Jussie Smollett’s counter lawsuit against the city of Chicago was thrown out by a federal judge on Wednesday.
District Judge Virginia Kendall dismissed Smollett’s lawsuit that accused the city of Chicago of malicious prosecution in their conclusion that his claim of being the victim of a racist and homophobic beating was a complete hoax.
Attorneys for the former ”Empire” star filed the suit in November of 2019 after the city of Chicago sued him for $130,000, seeking reimbursement for the overtime paid to police officers who were involved in investigating the alleged January 2019 attack on Smollett.
Judge Kendall said that Smollett could not continue with a malicious prosecution claim until after all of the legal proceedings against him — including the 6 count indictment from February of this year, for allegedly lying to police about the attack — have concluded.
Judge Kendall maintained that the Chicago Police Department was motivated to bring Smollett to justice “for a crime it had probable cause to think he committed.”
Smollett claimed that two men attacked him in January of 2019. The actor, who is openly gay, claimed the masked men beat him, tied a rope around his neck, and berated him with racist and homophobic slurs.
Chicago police said the attack was staged and charged Smollett with making a false report. The original charges were subsequently dropped with little explanation from prosecutors but were re-filed in February of this year after the appointment of a special prosecutor.
