Jussie Smollett is fighting back.
The ‘Empire’ actor found himself at the center of one of the year’s most shocking stories; a story which saw him initially deemed the victim (after an alleged hate attack) only to himself become the suspect of criminal behavior.
The latter saw Smollett charged with orchestrating the entire attack and paying off brothers Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo to stage a beatdown.
And yet in a dramatic twist, the criminal case collapsed in the preliminary phase and the 36-year-old looked to be off the hook. That is until the City of Chicago filed suit against him demanding he pay back the $130,000 to recoup the cost of the investigation.
Now, Smollett – who has always maintained his innocence – is retaliating.
Full story below…
Variety reports that the actor has filed a malicious prosecution countersuit against the City of Chicago for wrongfully pursuing him and causing him “humiliation, mental anguish and extreme emotional distress.”
Per the filing, the Chicago police department “obtained false and unreliable statements from the Osundairo Brothers” and used “those statements as the basis for the complaint against Mr. Smollett.” The document goes on to say that investigators “ignoring evidence that contradicted those statements played a significant role in the commencement of proceedings against Mr. Smollett.”
Suffice to say, this is the story that seemingly has no endpoint.