American actor Jussie Smollett was found guilty of lying to the police about an attack where he had claimed to be a victim of racial and homophobic assault.
The 39-year-old appeared before court this week, adamant that he had not staged the attack which took place back on January 29, 2019. The incident, which made international headlines, was reported by the actor to have been carried out by two masked men who punched him in the face, had an “unknown chemical substance” poured on him and a rope wrapped around his neck. What followed was an outpouring of support from celebrities around the world who sympathised with Smollett after what many believed was a heinous act of violence.
However, on February 17, 2019, a little under a month following the incident, the police published a report stating that the trajectory of the investigations have shifted and just three days later, Jussie Smollett was charged by the police after being named a suspect by the Chicago police for filing a false report.
Smollett faced a total of six charges, each referring to an instance in which he was accused of lying to the police. The two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who were initially questioned as suspects following the incident, said Smollett had orchestrated the attack himself and paid them $3,500 (£2,600) to carry it out.
Smollett was also accused of continuously lying about the series of events that occurred up until the attack took place during his trial which, according to the prosecutor Mr Webb, was a matter that should not be taken lightly and will be referred to the judge during sentencing deliberations.
Mr Webb added that “for Mr. Smollett to get up in front of [the jury] and lie for hours and hours, that really compounded his misconduct.” He continued, “Besides being against the law, it is just plain wrong to outright denigrate something as serious as a real hate crime and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such historical significance in our country.”
Authorities said that a possible reason behind the staging of the attack was for Smollett to boost his profile as an actor as he was dissatisfied with his salary on Empire. He said he was being paid $100,000 per episode at the time.
