Jussie Smollett is breathing a sigh of relief today. For, it’s just been announced that ALL 16 charges against the ‘Empire’ actor have been dropped in his “hoax” attack case.
As widely covered, the star was accused of faking a January beat-down, one he reported to police as being motivated by his race and sexuality. The investigation then turned to him and he was indicted last month.
Now, the entire case has been closed.
Find out why below…
A statement issued by Jussie’s team read:
“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him. Jussie was attacked by 2 people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public, causing an inappropriate rush to judgment.
Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong.”
According to TMZ, a source close to Smollett revealed that the prosecution’s case had”disintegrated.”
Notable were the issues attached to $3,500 check received by the 2 brothers at the center of the prosecution’s case.
In a press conference, the Police Superintendent had claimed the money was payment for the fake attack, yet it appears it was indeed for physical training as Smollett had claimed all along.
Also interesting was the superintendent’s assertion during a televised media briefing that Smollett wrote that threatening letter he received six days prior to the attack himself. It was later clarified that it was yet to be determined where said letter came from.
Complicating matters more is that the dismissal was reportedly hinged on the fact that if convicted Smollett (who maintains innocence) would have only received community service. Yet, because he has already carried it out, there’d be no point in proceeding with prosecution. That part confuses in earnest as a) wasn’t he on the hook for jail time? and b) it’s not known when nor for what he carried out community service for.
Suffice to say, this is a shocker across the board.
More as it develops.
UPDATE 1 – Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has issued a statement saying:
“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”
Update: 2 – Smollett’s family also issued a statement:
“Our son and brother is an innocent man whose name and character has been unjustly smeared. Jussie is a son, a brother, a partner, a champion for human rights, and a genuine soul who would never be capable of what he was falsely accused of. He was the victim of an assault and then falsely blamed for his own attack.
This morning truth has prevailed and he has been vindicated. All charges have been dismissed and his record expunged (cleared). The painful incidents we’ve witnessed him endure over the past 7 weeks have been heartbreaking and unjust to say the least. While many were quick to rush to judgement before hearing the actual truth, we are grateful that the truth about Jussie has come to light. We look forward to bringing the real perpetrators to justice. We thank God and our village for standing by us during this trying time.”
Update 3: The ‘Empire’ writers celebrated with:
He beat the charges, but still lied at the end of the day. This case went further than it should have. His career will suffer.
He didn’t beat the charges cuz the case never even made it to trial, they were dropped cuz he’s clearly innocent & they had no case, if he was guilty they would have charged his ass with something at least one thing but nope
An innocent man would be 100% cleared, correct? What’s with the community service and forfeiting of his bond?
Completely agree, the police and prosecutors had no case so they had to drop all charges. They are a complete joke and have no idea what they are doing. They took the word of admitted attackers and ran with it. The next time any attacker gets caught he should just simply claim that the victim hired him to stage an attack and see how far they can get with that nonsensical defense.
What!!!!!! I am so confused?! How Sway? If he did indeed lie he just gets to walk away? I guess of the politicians get to lie and walk so does he. But this is a huge shocker and to me still makes Chicago pd look terrible
This means that he DIDN’T lie genius, otherwise they wouldn’t have dropped the charges. And the Chicago PD has a LONG history of lying & falsifying evidence, this doesn’t make them look bad, it just confirms what most folks already know about how corrupt they are.
Give an opinion without attitude Genius. My comment was not an attack so calm down.
?Look @ GOD???????? Now he knows who really f**** with him or who’s fake af. Also means his character Jamal on Empire ain’t going any damn where ?? now where all the ppl that was saying he was guilty & how he ruined black history month ?
Exactly lol. And now all those same clowns are gonna make up excuses & make Jussie out to be this gigantic celebrity with enormous power & enough pull to get 16 federal charges dropped and wiped completely off of his record. Had no idea Jussie was that powerful lmfao!
We all know he is guilty but since he is a celebrity, he gets to walk free. We all saw the video of the brothers buying ski masks and red hats
This would be the same outcome for Harvey Weinstein and r.kelly and kevin spacey.
Sit down and shut up please, you clearly don’t know how the legal system works, so just stay mad & quiet. And ps, the charges for those 3 men are still standing, because those are three totally different cases idiot.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! There’s a WHOLE LOTTA people feeling REAL stupid this morning. I knew from the get go that this whole case was bs. Now here come all the seething & conspiracy theories from all the fools with egg on their faces that automatically condemned him based on social media tweets. LMFAOOOOOOOO! God Bless you, Jussie, I for one always had your back.
If he is innocent why did he forfeit his 10k bond and volunteer for community service? The writings on the wall. He did it. Who shouts ‘this is mega country’ in Chicago but 2am at night in freezing temperatures? Gay tupac my b***
This makes me sick. Everyday people are put in prison for minor crimes but since ur a celebrity u get to walk free after doing stupid dangerous sh1t. He still has federal charges for sending that white powder substance to himself, let’s see how that one will play out.
If he’s guilty why did they wipe 16 federal charges completely off his record? Lol face it, he’s innocent, and you’re one of the idiots that fell for the social media crucifixion with no facts. Take the L dear, and get over it.
So should the police still be looking for 2 white guys who beat jussie up and shouted this is mega country at 2am in the morning in freezing temperatures? Idiot
It’s called a plea deal. He still staged the attack. And by the way, the public court records have been SEALED, so we will never know.
Lmao, oh yeah! ? This is what happens when you let Twitter PD lead your investigation.
Just because he got off, does not make him innocent. He still lied. His career is still done.
Totally agree. He lied. Maybe just maybe he got an influential person to help him out in the background. Once you lied such a lie you stir up public fear it should have to legal consequences. He may need to return a favour to such a person -if so- And you know that kinda favour am talkin’ bout. Hahaha
I don’t really care about his innocence to be honest sis. I never formed an opinion on that. But I do know that 16 indictments for lying, even if he did do it, was a bogus prosecution, especially coming from Chicago PD who is NOTORIOUS for lying. The judicial action he got in comparison to what white people filing false police reports and making false accusations get never added up.
Cheers b******. ☕
When those white soccer mums who paid millions of dollars so their dumb kids could get into ivy league schools don’t get prosecuted I hope y’all who are supporting jussie right now will keep the same energy.
Rich celebrities keep breaking laws and keep getting away with it. It’s not fair.
The two nigerian brothers confessed it was staged.
Exactly! There was way too much evidence to make jussie appear innocent. This fool still guilty. Don’t believe this hype of innocence.
I’ve yet to see an article that proclaimed Jussie’s innocence. Dropped charges doesn’t equal innocence. The case was sloppy from the get-go due to Chicago PD’s negligence. Jussie still has to perform community service, and his bond was relinquished. Innocent peoples bonds are returned to them.
Thing young lady is sucking or munching up SOMEONE at the top. Like, I’ve never seen a more booked irrelevant artist in my life. But #Getmoneybitch ! <3
something is off but we will never know…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_RG1O5BhBU
They came to an agreeance this by no means means that he is innocent. At the end of the day he is a public figure/celebrity – he forfeited his bails and is going to be doing community service. He probably has no other record of criminal activity which is why the record is being expunged. Everyone in the US can have their record expunged if they sought out to. It just depends on the seriousness of everything and if he or she continues to engage in criminal activity. But none of this means he is innocent it just means he wasn’t charged!
Black privilege strikes again. Will these hoaxers ever be held to account?
The department did not say he was innocent. What they said is they agreed to drop the charges against him in exchange for Jussie giving up the $10,000 and showing evidence of community service work. The general public is not fooled.
Jussie wins yet again!