Smollett charged with faking his own assault
Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who said he was the victim of a hate crime, was charged Wednesday night with staging the assault he reported to Chicago police in January.
Law enforcement officials said a grand jury had heard evidence that Smollett falsely reported being attacked in a case that quickly drew national attention, and that local prosecutors had then charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct. Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told police that, while walking in downtown Chicago, he had been confronted by masked men who hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, and announced it was “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
Smollett had received an immediate outpouring of public support. Many cited his account as an example of another in a rising tide of hate crimes, which the FBI reported last fall had increased for the third straight year.
But the change in thinking by investigators as the case progressed began to unleash criticism against the media and politicians who many critics said were too quick to embrace a sketchy account in their drive to tarnish the president.
It became a nightly topic on Fox News for Tucker Carlson, who called it a case of identity politics run amok. “Identity politics is a scam,” he said, “and it is not so different from the one that Jussie Smollett just pulled.”
Smollett has continued to vehemently insist the incident occurred just as he reported it. A representative for him, Pamela Sharp, said that she was “aware of the news” but had no further comment.
From the start, investigators had difficulty corroborating Smollett’s story, even with about a dozen detectives assigned to the case. No surveillance cameras caught the attack. There were no witnesses. He had not reported it from the scene, and when he got home was still wearing a noose that he said the perpetrators had placed around his neck.
Investigators, though, were able to track two men who appeared on video footage not far from the scene that night. Using ride-share data, they discovered the two were brothers who in fact knew Smollett. One had acted as an extra on “Empire.” Police initially identified the brothers as possible suspects in the attack, but then released them without filing any charges. The men told investigators that Smollett had coordinated a faux attack and paid them to participate in it.
The brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, were brought in as witnesses to the grand jury Wednesday evening with their lawyer. Afterward, Gloria Schmidt, the lawyer, declined to say how much the brothers had been paid but said they had testified before the grand jury for more than two hours.