Like Any Scam, the Jussie Smollett Hoax Saga Is Ridiculously Complicated — Let's Get Into It

Unfortunately for actor Jussie Smollett, people will likely remember his 2019 so-called hoax long before they can recall any roles he's played.

Before he became the victim of an alleged hate crime, Smollett got his start as a kid in movies like The Mighty Ducks and Rob Reiner's bizarre fantasy film North.

Smollett's breakout role was in Lee Daniels's series Empire, which ran for six seasons on Fox. It was during this time that Smollett alleged two masked men attacked him in Chicago.

According to the BBC, the men repeatedly punched Smollett in the face before dousing him with a mysterious chemical. They also wrapped a noose around his neck while screaming racial and homophobic slurs. Things took a weird turn soon after.

What did he do? Here's what we know.

Following the alleged attack, there was an outpouring of support from celebrities for Smollett on social media. Although Smollett refused to hand over his phone to investigators, they didn't find the situation suspicious until he provided a redacted PDF file of his phone records.

Despite this strange move on Smollett's part, law enforcement released sketches of the two men who allegedly attacked the actor.

In February 2019, two persons of interest were arrested: Obabinjo (Ola) and Abimbola (Abel) Osundairo, two brothers originally from Nigeria.

The siblings had worked as extras on Empire.

The New York Times later reported that Smollett asked Abel to pretend to beat him up. "He wanted me to tussle and throw him to the ground and give him a bruise while my brother Ola would pour bleach on him and put a rope around him, and then we would run away,” per testimony by Abel.

The brothers were released from custody, and Smollett was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report about a hate crime.

In exchange for paying a $10,000 bond and completing 15 hours of community service, the charges were dropped in March 2019.

Almost a year later, special prosecutor Dan Webb decided he wanted to prosecute Smollett later and charged him with six counts of lying to police.

Webb argued that Smollett "developed a secret plan that would make it appear there was actually a hate crime that actually occurred against him by supporters of Donald Trump."

Smollett maintained his innocence and said the reason why he didn't immediately reach out to police was because, as a "Black man in America," he didn't trust law enforcement.

In December 2021, Smollett was found guilty of five of the six counts of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 150 days in prison but got out in six after his lawyers filed an appeal.

The actor's conviction was overturned in November 2024 on a technicality. A judge in Illinois ruled that it would be unfair not to honor the agreement wherein the charges were dropped in exchange for community service.