On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett approached the Chicago Police Department and reported a fake hate crime that he had staged against himself earlier that morning. He enlisted two Nigerian-American brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had worked with him on the television drama Empire, to plan and execute the hoax. The hoax took place on East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. In disguise the brothers shouted racial and homophobic slurs while one poured bleach on Smollett and the other placed a noose around his neck. Smollett described one of them as a white male and told police he shouted "This is MAGA country". The brothers later testified that Smollett staged the attack near a surveillance camera so that video of it could be publicized.
In February 2019, a Chicago police raid on the home of the Osundairo brothers uncovered evidence they had been paid $3,500 by Smollett and purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck, and police also found clothing-store security camera footage of the brothers buying clothes like those worn by the attackers. Smollett was indicted for disorderly conduct for paying the brothers to stage a fake hate crime and filing a false police report. His defense team reached a plea bargain with prosecutors in March 2019, in which all charges were dropped in return for Smollett performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bond.
In February 2020, after further investigation by a special prosecutor, Smollett was indicted again by a Cook County grand jury on six counts pertaining to making four false police reports. In December 2021, Smollett was convicted on five felony counts. In March 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and was ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution for the overtime spent by Chicago police officers investigating his false reports. Smollett's attorneys immediately filed an appeal and he was released after posting a personal recognizance bond.
In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Illinois overturned Smollett's conviction. The court agreed that Smollett's Fifth Amendment rights had been violated when he was prosecuted again after the earlier plea bargain. In response, special prosecutor Dan Webb said that Smollett is "not innocent," and noted that during the appeal, Smollett's defense never challenged the "overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department". In the 2025 Netflix documentary The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, Smollett maintains that he is innocent.
Staged hate crime
On January 22, 2019, a letter arrived at the Chicago studio of Smollett's employer. The letter was addressed to Smollett and had a drawing depicting a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing towards it, as well as lettered magazine clippings reading "Smollett, Jussie you will die" and "MAGA". The letter also contained a white powder determined to be Tylenol.
On January 29, Smollett announced that he had been attacked early that morning on the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, in what was initially investigated as a hate crime. Chicago police later alleged that Smollett himself was responsible for staging the attack.
Smollett told police that, after getting food from a Subway restaurant around 2:00 a.m., he was attacked by two men, who were "yelling out racial and homophobic slurs" and who "poured an unknown chemical substance on [him]". Smollett said that he was on the phone with his manager, Frank Gatson, at the time of the purported incident.
He described one of the assailants as White, though both were Black. They allegedly began to beat Smollett about the face, using their hands, feet, and teeth as weapons in the assault. According to a statement released by Chicago police, the two suspects then "poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim" and at some point during the incident "wrapped a rope around the victim's neck". Smollett said that he fought them off. There were surveillance cameras at the location that Smollett assumed had captured the incident, but, as it turned out, they were facing in the wrong direction. A witness, an employee of NBC News Chicago, who was near the scene of Smollett's alleged incident and was exiting her car around the "corner from the location," said that she heard nothing.
According to Gloria Rodriguez, the lawyer for the assailants, Smollett first drove them to the spot where the attack was supposed to occur for a "dress rehearsal" and told them, "Here's a camera, there's a camera and here's where you are going to run away". The assailants explained that Smollett's plan was to post the footage on social media, and that he became very upset when police told him that no cameras had recorded the attack. Smollett was treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Not seriously injured, he was released "in good condition" later that morning.
The police had been called after 2:30 a.m. by Gatson, (URL not available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.) which infuriated the actor because he did not want to involve law enforcement. When they arrived around 2:40 a.m., Smollett had a white rope around his neck. He later admitted removing the rope and then putting it back on before the police arrived after Gatson told him to do so. Smollett said that the attack may have been motivated by his criticism of the Trump administration and that he believed that the alleged assault was linked to the threatening letter that had been sent to him earlier that month. The FBI would later investigate whether Smollett was involved in composing the letter.
Initial public reaction On January 30, 2019, public figures expressed support for Smollett on social media. Entertainment industry figures, including Shonda Rhimes and Viola Davis, tweeted their outrage over the attack and support for Smollett. Democratic senators and presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both described the attack as an attempted modern-day lynching. Booker urged Congress to pass a federal anti-lynching bill co-sponsored by him and Harris. In an interview with April Ryan of AURN, President Donald Trump was asked about Smollett being attacked and said, "I think that's horrible. It doesn't get worse." Smollett faced skepticism regarding his claim of being attacked; he responded by saying that he believed that, if he had said his attackers were Mexicans, Muslims, or Black people, "the doubters would have supported me much more ... And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now."
Investigation On February 13, 2019, Chicago police raided the home of two "persons of interest" in the case. The men, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, were brothers of Nigerian descent who'd acted as extras on Empire, the television series in which Smollett was a main cast member. Police recovered bleach and other items from the home. The brothers were held in police custody on suspicion of battery but were not charged. According to their attorney, they knew Smollett from working on the show and had also spent time with him at a gym. The two men were released February 15 without being charged with a crime, with Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stating their release was "due to new evidence" from the interrogations.
Chicago police later told ABC News: "Police are investigating whether the two individuals committed the attack—or whether the attack happened at all." On February 16, two unnamed police sources informed CNN that investigators had discovered evidence indicating that Smollett had paid the two brothers $3,500 to stage the attack. Financial records indicate that the brothers purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck at a hardware store in Ravenswood over the weekend of January 25. They were seen in security camera footage in a clothing store where they bought the gloves, ski masks and a red hat that police said was used in the attack. The brothers asked specifically for a MAGA hat, which the store did not sell. Chicago Police contacted Smollett's attorney for additional questioning. (URL not available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.)
On February 19, 2019, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said that she was recusing herself from the investigation due to her "familiarity with potential witnesses in the case", prompting criticism from her predecessor, Anita Alvarez. Foxx delegated the case to a subordinate. Foxx later acknowledged that she had been in contact with a member of Smollett's family about the case at an early stage when he was thought to have been a crime victim. Foxx added that Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson had reached out to the FBI about handing the Smollett case off to them, but had informed her that the agency was not interested. Foxx's office later asserted that she had not formally recused herself from the case; doing so would have required her to ask the court to appoint an outside attorney as a special prosecutor.
Smollett hired crisis manager Chris Bastardi to represent him.
Criminal charges, arrest, trial and conviction
On February 20, 2019, Smollett was charged by a grand jury with a class 4 felony for filing a false police report. Smollett's felony count charge in Illinois carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Smollett hired attorney Mark Geragos in addition to Chicago-based attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson to work on his legal defense.
The next day, Smollett surrendered himself at the Chicago Police Department's Central Booking station; shortly thereafter, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that Smollett "is under arrest and in the custody of detectives". Guglielmi also said that Smollett was named as a suspect in a criminal investigation for filing a fake police report, under a class 4 felony.
Later that day, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson held a press conference, gave details of the investigation, and explained how the department concluded that the alleged assault was staged. The brothers, Abimbola "Bola" (also known as Abel) and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, who say that they helped stage the attack, also said that Smollett came up with the idea to orchestrate the attack after the threatening letter that he received did not generate as much attention as he had hoped that it would. In addition to the rope around his neck, the original plan was to pour gasoline over him, but they decided to use bleach instead. Police alleged that the actor intended to further his career by tying the incident to racism in the United States and President Trump, and that Smollett sent himself the threatening letter.
Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. set Smollett's bail at $100,000; a friend of the actor's paid a $10,000 bond, and Smollett was released from custody on February 21. Smollett was required to surrender his passport.
On March 8, Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts of "false report of offense" related to the incident.
In March 2019, the New York Post reported that Tina Tchen, a Chicago attorney who served as former First Lady Michelle Obama's chief of staff, had contacted Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx about the Smollett case on February 1. Emails and text messages indicated that, on February 1, Foxx informed both Tchen and an unnamed Smollett relative that she had asked Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to request that the FBI take over the Smollett investigation. Foxx added that Johnson had agreed to make that request.New York Post, Former Michelle Obama aide tried to intervene in Jussie Smollett probe , March 14, 2019NBC Chicago, Jussie Smollett Update: Texts, Emails Reveal Foxx Asked Johnson to Turn Investigation Over to FBI , March 13, 2019
On March 14, 2019, Smollett pled not guilty.
Initial charges dropped