Jussie Smollett Found Guilty in Hate Crime Hoax Trial

Jussie Smollett was just found guilty in his hate crime hoax trial stemming from the 2019 incident where he was accused of staging a fake attack against himself and then lying to Chicago police about it.

Jurors found the “Empire” star guilty of five of the six felony accounts against him. The first five counts were for lying to police on Jan. 29 and the sixth, which he was found not guilty, stemmed from a separate interview with Chicago PD where he said he was a victim of aggravated burglary.

In January 2019, Smollett claimed two men attacked him, poured bleach on him, put a noose around his neck and yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him as he walked from a Subway sandwich shop around 2 a.m.

Notable names rallied in the actor’s defense after news broke about the attack. Chicago PD launched an investigation to identify the suspects who later turned out to be acquaintances of Smollett, Bola and Ola Osundairo, who the actor knew from the “Empire” set. The Osundairo brothers claimed Smollett paid and instructed them on how to carry out the attack in an attempt to get media attention.

Throughout the trial, Smollett maintained it was not orchestrated by himself.

Simone

Simone is an award-winning communications professional with over seven years of experience. Her passion for writing has led her to serve as Editor-in-Chief at Baller Alert. In her free time, she enjoys trying new restaurants and traveling (to mostly tropical destinations.)

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