BY: DM
Published 32 seconds ago
He’s back in the headlines, and honestly, people are still split. Jussie Smollett — the actor whose name became shorthand for one of the most polarizing celebrity scandals of the last decade — has spent the last six years in a courtroom and media marathon, insisting he’s innocent while a string of legal rulings and a new Netflix documentary place the story back into the spotlight.
Smollett first said he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack on Jan. 29, 2019. Chicago police launched a highly publicized investigation that quickly became a national story. Within weeks, that investigation morphed into an allegation that Smollett staged the attack and paid two acquaintances to carry it out. The scandal has been detailed in “The Truth About Jussie Smollett,” but some fans are still confused about the case. The doc gives Smollett screen time to tell his story, while also airing the prosecutors’, detectives’, and witnesses’ accounts.
Here’s everything the “Empire” actor said about the controversy that derailed his career.
Jussie Smollett claimed to be a victim of a hate crime.
According to Reuters, Smollett reported the incident in 2019. However, investigators later claimed the actor paid two acquaintances to carry out the attack. Prosecutors charged him, but a Cook County deal dismissed the charges in exchange for community service and bond forfeiture. A special prosecutor eventually re-indicted him.
In December 2021, a jury convicted Smollett on five counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing false police reports. On March 10, 2022, the judge sentenced him to 150 days in county jail, 30 months of probation, more than $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago, and a $25,000 fine. Smollett loudly denied guilt in court. He shouted, “I am innocent,” as deputies led him out. He was released after serving only a few days, pending appeals.
In November 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed Smollett’s conviction, ruling that the second prosecution violated due process because prosecutors had effectively re-filed charges after an earlier dismissal that Smollett had relied on. “We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse the defendant’s conviction,” the Illinois Supreme Court stated.
Jussie Smollett maintains his innocence.
Smollett himself has not softened his stance. In statements tied to his settlement with the city and media interviews, he has repeatedly said that admitting guilt was never part of any deal and that he remains wronged by how his life collapsed in the public eye. “Those moments changed the course of my entire life,” Smollett said in the documentary. “My story’s never changed. My story’s remained intact.”
The actor is making deliberate moves to rebrand himself as a filmmaker and content creator. He directed “B-Boy Blues” in 2021 and followed that with “The Lost Holliday” in 2024, both projects that critics said leaned into queer storytelling and family themes. Smollett is also set to appear as a contestant on the Fox reality competition “Special Forces,” alongside Teresa Giudice and Chanel Iman.
Do you think Netflix’s “The Truth About Jussie Smollett” clears the actor’s name, or has public opinion already decided?
