MAGA, HE WROTE
Jussie scripted, directed and starred in his own hate crime — all for a raise: cops
“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, pictured here in his mug shot yesterday, directed every detail of his fake hate cri me, even t el l i ng friends to yell, “This is MAG A country!” prosecutors allege.
Millionaire “Empire” star Jussie Smollett orchestrated his hate-attack hoax because he felt underpaid — and he exploited “the pain and anger of racism to advance his career,” Chicago’s top cop said Thursday.
The damning accusation from Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson came hours after the actor surrendered to face a felony charge of filing a false police report.
A stone-faced Smollett, 36, was released after posting $10,000 cash bail set by a judge who called the allegations “utterly outrageous.”
“The most vile and despicable part of it, if true, is the noose,” said Cook County Circuit Judge John Lyke Jr., referring to Smollett’s claim that a rope was put around his neck by a man yelling, “This is MAGA country!”
“That symbol conjures up such evil in this country’s history,’’ added Lyke, who, like Smollett, is black.
A host of other allegations also emerged Thursday:
Smollett scripted every aspect of the bogus bias crime, even directing his two pals on how they would fake-assault him and “not hurt him too badly and give him a chance to appear to fight back,’’ according to police documents.
The bruises and scratches on Smollett’s face were apparently “self-inflicted.”
One of the two brothers who confessed to helping Smollett stage the attack had allegedly provided him with “designer drugs,” including ecstasy.
Smollett didn’t cover his tracks very well, even paying the brothers with a $3,500 check — which police say they now have.
The death-threat letter Smollett received a week before the incident was also a hoax, cops say.
Smollett, who is gay, was charged Wednesday evening with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly making a false report to police after allegedly choreographing the racist, homophobic attack against himself with the help of the two bodybuilding brothers, Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo.
Abel worked as a stand-in for the “Empire” character Kai, a love interest of Smollett’s gay character, Jamal Lyon; Ola has been an extra on the Fox show.
If convicted, Smollett would face up to three years in prison. His next court date is March 14.
Superintendent Johnson said Smollett orchestrated the attack — which the top cop called a “stunt” — “because he was dissatisfied by his salary.”
The actor earns $100,000 per episode of “Empire,” a wellplaced source told The Post.
The series, now on hiatus midway through its fifth season, typically airs 18 episodes per season, which would put Smollett’s annual take at about $1.8 million.
That would land him among the highest-earning 0.1 percent of all Americans, according to WhatsMyPercent.com, an online income percentile calculator that uses data from the US Census Bureau and other sources.
When the actor returned to the “Empire” set Thursday, he vehemently denied the accusations to his colleagues.
“I swear to God, I did not do this,” Smollett said, according to TMZ. “I’mm sorry I’vee put you alll through this andd not answered any calls.
“I wantedd to say I’m sorryorry and, you knownow
I swear to God, I did not do this . . . I would never do this to any of you. Jussie Smollett, addressing his ‘Empire’ colleagues
me. I would never do this to any of you — you are my family.”
But Chicago police were adamant, with Johnson speaking in starkly personal terms about the impact of Smollett’s alleged lies to cops and the country, saying he was “offended” and “angry.”
“This morning, I come to you not only as the superintendent of the Chicago Police Depart- ment but also as a black man who spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago. I know the racial divide that exists here,” Johnson said.
“This announcement today recognizes that ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I’m left hanging my head and asking, ‘Why?’ ”
Johnson confirmed many details from reports that revealed how Smollett’s story unraveled following the Feb. 13 arrests of the Osundairos, who were released without charges two days after spilling their guts.
“With the help of their lawyer, they decided to confess to the entirety of what the plot was,” Johnson said, adding that when they revealed Smollett’s alleged motive, “Quite frankly, it pissed everyone off.”
Johnson said cops “have the check he used to pay them” and noted that the brothers “had on gloves during the staged attack.”
“As far as we can tell, the scratches and bruises we saw on his face were most likely self-inflicted,” he said of Smollett.
Johnson demanded Smollett apologize “to the city that he smeared” and give restitution for the resources wasted investigating his claims.
President Trump had initially been sympathetic to Smollett’s claims, calling the purported attack on him “horrible” and saying, “It doesn’t get worse.” But he blasted Smollett on Thursday for abusing his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
“.@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA” the president tweeted Thursday morning.
Hours later, Smollett appeared in court wearing the same leather-trimmed black jacket he had on for his mug shot.
He stood with his shoulders slumped and spoke only to give the judge his name.
But his lawyer Jack Prior said the actor was sticking by his story that he was attacked by two strangers at around 2 a.m. Jan. 29 in Chicago’s swank Streeterville neighborhood.
“Today we witnessed an organized law-enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system,” Smollett’s lawyers said in a statement.
“The presumption of innocence, a bedrock, in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett.”
Smollett told cops his assailants called him “Empire f- - - -t n- - - -r,” doused him with a liquid believed to be bleach and looped a rope around his neck.
“Your Honor, we agree these are outrageous allegations, but my client vehemently denies all of these allegations,” Prior said.
“He wants nothing more than to clear his name.”
Prosecutor Risa Lanier read aloud a four-page document out- lining evidence against Smollett.
She said he and Abel Osundairo, 25, became friends in the fall of 2017, socializing and exercising together.
Abel provided Smollett with designer drugs, Lanier said.
“Since the spring of 2018, on several occasions, defendant requested Abel to provide him with ‘Molly,’ ” slang for ecstasy, she said.
Lanier said text messages show Smollett contacted Abel on Jan. 25, saying, “Might need your help on the low. You around to meet up and talk face to face?”
During a subsequent drive to Abel’s apartment, Smollett allegedly “indicated to Abel his displeasure with the ‘Empire’ studio’s handling” of a mailed death threat he received three days earlier — and which Johnson said was bogus.
Smollett then said he wanted to stage an attack on himself by Abel and his brother, Ola, 27, whom Smollett met through Abel, Lanier said.
When they got to the apartment and Ola agreed to take part, Smollett allegedly detailed plans for the fake assault.
Ola was told to put a rope around Smollett’s neck, douse him with gas — later changed to bleach — and yell, “This is MAGA country!” Lanier said.
The brothers bought ski masks, a red hat and rope with a $100 bill Smollett gave them, and set upon him at a prearranged spot near Smollett’s apartment building, but the 45-second act was “just outside the view” of a surveillance camera “that Smollett had pointed out to the brothers approximately 15 hours earlier,” Lanier said.
Smollett stood with his mouth agape as Lanier read the claims.
Eight friends and relatives of Smollett stood in the gallery.
They all declined to comment afterward, and Smollett was silent as he made his way through a crush of reporters following his release from custody. Additional reporting by Lia Eustachewich gfonrouge@nypst.com
Is “mastermind” really the right word for a guy who stages his own hate crime and pays off the guys he hired for the scam with a personal check?
And that’s not even the most self-involved aspect of the charges that Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson outlined Thursday against Jussie Smollett.
He also said the “Empire” actor faked the attack because “he was dissatisfied with his salary” of more than $100,000 an episode.
Most shameful of all: When he got the call that police had made two arrests for the supposed “racist and homophobic” attack that included putting a noose around his neck, Smol- lett was set to make an official complaint ... until he learned it was Ola and Abel Osundairo. That suggests he was willing to let innocents be charged for the crime he’d staged.
But the harm goes deeper. As Johnson, who is black, asked: “Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?
“How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?”
If convicted, Smollett faces up to three years in prison — and he’d deserve it.