Jussie Smollett Indicted On 16 Felony Counts: Everything You Need to Know
By Christianna Silva
On Thursday, February 21,
Empire actor Jussie Smollett was taken into custody on expenses of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report right after allegedly staging the assault he announced to Chicago police in January,
according to Tom Ahern, the deputy director of news affairs and communications for the Chicago police.
What was originally announced as a potential hate crime has grown considerably more complicated: Within one month of the alleged attack, Chicago police dropped their investigation into two “persons of interest,” and
announced that they were right now classifying Smollett as a suspect following accusations that he allegedly orchestrated the attack on himself. For his part, Smollett
previously denied the allegations;
on Thursday, his lawyers told Deadline, “Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett appreciates the presumption of innocence, particularly any time there has been an investigation like this one where intelligence, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”
This comes at a time in which attacks against LGBTQ+ people of color are on the rise. According to 2017 hate crime intelligence,
released by the FBI in November 2018, there was a five percent increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes as well as a 16 percent increase in anti-black hate crimes. Throughout the same year, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
released a report showing that there were 52 anti-LGBTQ+ homicides, the highest number ever recorded by the sort. 60 percent of the victims were black.
Specifics are continuing to emerge, although this is a full timeline of what we right now know of the alleged Smollett attack.
January 22: Smollett
reports deriving a letter at the
Empire set with “MAGA” written in red ink on the return address of envelope. Indoor within the envelope was white powder, which turned out to be a crushed pain reliever, accompanied by a threat in cut-out letters: “You will perish black f-g.”
January 29: Smollett tells officers that on Tuesday, January 29th around 2 a.M., Two white males approached him wearing ski masks outdoors a Subway restaurant in Chicago. He says the males beat him up, poured bleach on him, and put a noose around his neck.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the boys also mentioned, “This is MAGA country,” and
TMZ reports that the males called Smollett “that f----t
Empire n----r.”
Immediately following the alleged attack, he checked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital and was
reported to be in good condition.
January 30: Chicago police report that they are reviewing surveillance camera footage, yet none of the videos show the attack. One video, nevertheless, shows two potential “persons of interest,”
according to Anthony Guglielmi, the Chief Communications Officer for Chicago police. The surveillance footage is dark, and their faces aren’t immediately distinguishable.
January 31: Smollett’s family member
issues a statement condemning the attack, saying, “To be clear, this was a racial and homophobic hate crime.”
They added, “We want people to understand these targeted hate crimes are happening to our sisters, brothers and our gender non-conforming siblings, several who reside in the intersection of numerous identities, on a monthly, weekly, and some days even day-to-day basis all across our nation. Oftentimes ending fatally, these are inhumane acts of domestic terrorism and so they should be treated as such. They are going to continue to occur up until we hold each other accountable,”
according to Billboard.
President Donald Trump tells reporters at the White Residence that the Smollett story “doesn’t get worse, as far as I’m concerned,”
according to the Associated Press.
February 1: Smollett issues a
statement to Essence, saying he is doing OK and thanking each person for their support. “I am working with authorities and have been 100 [percent] factual and consistent on every level,” the statement reads. “Despite my frustrations and deep concern with certain inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be served.”
February 2: Smollett gives a sold-out concert in a West Hollywood nightclub. “I had to be here tonight, y'all. I can't let [them] win,” he mentioned,
according to the Chicago Tribune. “I have so several words in my heart. The most crucial thing I have to mention is thank you so much and that I'm OK. I'm not totally healed although, nevertheless I'm going to. And I'm gonna stand strong with y'all.”
February 12: Smollett
turns over some redacted phone records to the Chicago police, which detectives requested as piece of their investigation. He says that his music manager was on the phone with him at the time of the attack, although police mentioned that the phone records were also heavily redacted to sufficiently corroborate his story.
According to the Associated Press, Smollett says he redacted some of the intelligence on his phone to protect the privacy of people not relevant to the incident.
February 14: Smollett reassures viewers on
Good Morning America that his story is true right after unsubstantiated reports start surfacing that he could have orchestrated the incident.
Hours right following the show, Chicago police reported that they are interviewing the two persons of interest captured on video, adding that the males, brothers in their 20s, were not suspects, although were in the “area of concern and are being questioned.” They are later identified as
Nigerian brothers Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo.
Meanwhile, producers of
Empire mention they are not writing Smollett’s character, Jamal Lyon, off of the show,
FOX mentioned in a statement.
February 15: Guglielmi
tells the Chicago Tribune that the two “persons of interest” are imagined potential suspects, however have not however been charged. Far less than 12 hours later, he
issues a statement by way of the Twitter that the Chicago police released both the suspects “due to new evidence,” although did not disclose what that was.
February 16: Police mention the investigation “
shifted” immediately after detectives interviewed the brothers. Two law enforcement sources
tell CNN that the Chicago police are investigating whether Smollett paid the two brothers to stage the attack, following undisclosed evidence that proposed that may be the case.
“We can confirm that the intelligence procured from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the
Empire has case in point shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” CPD says in a statement. “We’ve reached out to the
Empire cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”
Police mention they requested another interview with Smollett, whose lawyers claim the actor feels “victimized” by reports that he orchestrated his own assault,
according to the Associated Press.
In a statement to CNN, Smollett’s lawyers said: "As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with. He has right now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying."
February 19: Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx recuses herself from the case “out of an abundance of caution” because of her “familiarity with potential witnesses in the case,”
according to the Chicago Sun-Times. No more intelligence was released at the time, nevertheless Foxx later says she recused herself because she had conversations with a member of Smollett’s family member immediately following the incident was initially announced,
according to the Associated Press.
Sources tell Deadline that
Empire has determined to slash Smollett’s upcoming scenes in the show.
Two of Smollett’s siblings,
Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Jocqui Smollett, post a quote attributed to Malcolm X on Instagram that usually put the blame on the media.
“This is the media, the irresponsible media,”
the post reads. “It will make the criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's criminal. In the event you aren’t cautious, the media will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
February 20: Guglielmi
tweets that Cook County has filed felony criminal expenditures against Smollett for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. Police
also say that the two brothers who were originally questioned about the attack will testify before a grand jury.
Meanwhile,
20th Century Fox TV and Fox Entertainment tell Deadline, “Jussie Smollett keeps it up and continues to be a consummate professional on set and as we have previously stated, he isn't being written out of the show.”
February 21: Guglielmi
tweets that Smollett is under arrest and in custody of detectives immediately after he was charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. His
bail hearing is set for later today.
Chicago police accused Smollett of staging the attack because “he was dissatisfied with his salary” on
Empire.
“Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,”
Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson said. “This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn’t earn, and definitely didn’t deserve.”
In a statement acquired by MTV News, 20th Century Fox and Fox Entertainment said: “We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the scenario and we are considering our options.”
Smollett's bail was reportedly set at $100,000.
TMZ reports that following his bail hearing, the actor showed up to the
Empire set, where he was slated to film a scene. There, he reportedly instructed them show's cast and crew, "I’m sorry I’ve put you all through this and not answered any calls. I wanted to mention I’m sorry and, you know me, I would never do this to any of you, you are my family member. I swear to God, I did not do this.”
February 22: In a statement obtained by MTV News,
Empire's executive producers mentioned they could be writing Smollett's character Jamal Lyon out of the show's final two episodes, so as to minimize disruption on set and impact on the cast and crew. They added: “The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an essential member of our
Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system because the process plays out."
March 8: A grand jury has indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct connected to falsifying a police report,
ABC reports. The Cook County jury delivered the counts in two separate sets of expenditures, related to every one of the two interviews Smollett gave to police the night of, and the day immediately following the alleged attack.
According to CBS, the indictment claims “Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed."
NBC notes Smollett and his team have continued to deny the claims made against him.
This is a developing story. We'll update as more intelligence becomes available.
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