Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax

On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett approached the Chicago Police Department and reported a hate crime that he had staged earlier that morning.^[1][2] He planned the hate crime with two Nigerian brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had worked as extras on the set of television drama Empire, in which Smollett was a cast member. During the staged attack, which took place on East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, the disguised brothers shouted racial and homophobic slurs while one poured bleach on Smollett and the other placed a noose around his neck. In addition to falsely reporting that he had been attacked by two unknown individuals, Smollett described one of them as a white male.^[3][2] He also told police the men shouted "This is MAGA country"^[4] during the attack, a reference to the Trumpist political slogan "Make America Great Again".^[5] The brothers later testified that Smollett staged the attack near a surveillance camera so that video of it could be publicized.^[6]

On February 13, 2019, Chicago police raided the home of the Osundairo brothers and found records indicating they had been paid $3,500 by Smollett. They had purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck at a hardware store in Ravenswood over the weekend of January 25, and were also seen in security camera footage in the clothing store where they bought gloves, ski masks, and a red hat that police said was used in the attack.^[7][8] On February 20, Smollett was indicted for disorderly conduct for paying the brothers to stage a fake hate crime and filing a false police report.^[9] His defense team reached a deal with prosecutors on March 26, 2019, in which all charges were dropped in return for Smollett performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bond.^[10]

On April 12, 2019, the city of Chicago sued Smollett for the $130,000 cost of the investigation. In November he countersued, alleging he was the victim of "mass public ridicule and harm".

On February 11, 2020, after further investigation by a special prosecutor was completed, Smollett was indicted again by a Cook County grand jury on six counts pertaining to making four false police reports.^[11][12] In December 2021, Smollett was convicted on five felony counts.^[13] On March 10, 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in county jail^[14] and was ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution for the overtime spent by Chicago police officers investigating his false reports.^[15] Smollett's attorneys immediately filed an appeal and he was released, pending the outcome of his appeal, on March 16 after posting a personal recognizance bond.