Did this well-known singer and actor produce a false claim that he was a victim of a vicious hate crime?
The Alleged Hate-Crime
On January 29th, 2019, famous actor and singer Jussie Smollett filed a report to the Chicago Police Department that he had been attacked by two men who were "yelling out racial and homophobic slurs" and who "poured an unknown chemical substance on [him]." Smollett claimed that the men began to beat him about the face, using their hands, feet, and teeth as weapons in the assault. According to a statement released by the Chicago Police Department, the two suspects "wrapped a rope around the victim's neck." Smollett said that he tried to fight the assailants off. However, surveillance cameras at the location where Smollett claims he was attacked were facing the opposite direction of the site of the alleged hate crime. After hearing about the alleged incident, many public figures and media organizations expressed their support for Smollett during his recovery from the assault. On February 13th, 2019, the Chicago Police raided the house of two Nigerian brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who were considered "persons of interest" in the case. Three days later, an anonymous informant tipped the Chicago Police Department that Mr. Smollett had paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the hate crime. After further investigation by the FBI, Smollett was charged by a grand jury with a class 4 felony for filing a false police report.The Trial of Jussie Smollett
On November 29th, 2021, the trial of Jussie Smollett began. The prosecution was led by Kim Foxx, who intended to use evidence from Smollett's previous encounters with the Osundairo brothers to connect it to his alleged planning of a fake hate crime against him due to his belief that he was underpaid by the show he currently acted in called "Empire." Furthermore, prosecutors argued that the actor had orchestrated a hate crime against himself in a bid for publicity because he thought a recent death threat he had received at work was not taken seriously enough. On the contrary, the defense argued that Mr. Smollett had been the victim of an actual attack by Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who relished their proximity to fame and wanted to scare Mr. Smollett enough to get him to hire them as his security detail. A jury of six men and six women deliberated more than nine hours over two days before finding Smollett guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct.