On Thursday, a jury found former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett guilty on counts related to an apparent hate crime hoax he orchestrated in 2019. The jury reached their decision after about nine hours of deliberation.
Smollett was found guilty on five out of six counts of disorderly conduct. He has not yet been sentenced.
The disgraced actor immediately started trending on social media, and some of the responses were just fantastic.
- Lisa Boothe: “Jussie Smollett can finally rest easy tonight.”
The actor faced a total of “six counts of disorderly conduct under a subsection of the law that prohibits false reports to police,” according to NBC Chicago. The charges were listed as class 4 felonies, “which are among the least serious felonies in Illinois,” the report said, adding that possible “convictions can still carry potential prison time of up to three years.” The report detailed the six counts:
Count 1 accuses him of telling responding Chicago Police Officer Muhammed Baig at around 2:45 a.m., some 45 minutes after the purported attack, that he was the victim of a hate crime. He said two attackers put a rope around his neck. Count 2 refers to Smollett telling the same officer he was a victim of a battery, describing attackers beating and pouring bleach on him.
Counts 3 and 4 are when Smollett made the same claims but to a different officer, Kimberly Murray, later that morning, at just before 6 a.m.
Count 5 accuses Smollett of again telling Murray at around 7:15 p.m. that he was the victim of a battery. Count 6 refers to Smollett reporting on Feb. 14, 2019, to detective Robert Graves that he’d been a victim of an aggravated battery.
As The Daily Wire explained, back in January 2019, Smollett claimed he was targeted and attacked by apparent supporters of President Donald Trump in an anti-gay, anti-black hate crime. His alleged attackers, whom he initially described as white males who yelled “This is MAGA country,” were brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, Smollett maintained. Notably, the brothers are both black men who knew the “Empire” star before the incident and have claimed Smollett orchestrated the “hoax.” The Daily Wire detailed Smollett’s claim at the time:
Smollett contends he was targeted by two Trump supporters, who verbally and physically accosted him as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago on January 29. The actor says the men called him a “f*****” and a “n*****,” tied a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him, and kicked him in the ribs.
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