When Jussie Smollett announced in January 2019 that he was the victim of a hate crime, it didn’t take long at all for his story to unravel, with the Empire actor being charged just the next month for filing a false police report. Despite some matters being dropped, Smollett was later found guilty on multiple felony counts of disorderly conduct. But now Jussie Smollett is getting his name clear…on the record, at least.
An Illinois judge has deemed that Jussie Smollett will have his conviction overturned, although this is by no means a demonstration of any innocence. As special prosecutor Dan Webb stated (via Variety), “Make no mistake — today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence. The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct. In fact, Mr. Smollett did not even challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him in his appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.”
Jussie Smollett had been sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 days of probation, along with being hit with fines. No doubt it has been a long few years for Smollett, but just because he will have his conviction overturned doesn’t mean he’ll be welcome back in the industry just like that. Not only has the damage been done, but Smollett himself apparently knows that everything he did to trigger and promote the lie was wrong and unethical on so many levels. He, too, betrayed the support and trust of those that came to his defense.
Jussie Smollett was best known for playing Jamal Lyon – the son of Terence Howard’s Lucious and Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie – on Empire, garnering some praise for his performance. Since his December 2021 conviction, Smollett has laid low – and we fully expect that to hold, whether he wants that or not.
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