Empire actor Jussie Smollett on Friday was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct in connection to an alleged hate crime staged against himself.
Last month, Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report with police on the alleged attack on January 29th, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said. Smollett, who is African-American and gay, told police that he was assaulted while walking home from a downtown Chicago Subway sandwich shop. The actor claimed two masked individuals beat him, hurled racist and homophobic slurs, and doused him with an unknown chemical substance. Further, he alleged his assailants looped a thin rope around his neck and shouted “This is MAGA country” before fleeing the scene.
In a four-page court document laying out the allegations against Smollett, prosecutors said the actor hired brothers Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo to help carry out the attack, directing them to buy masks and a rope — transactions which were recorded on surveillance video. As for the alleged attack, the actor instructed Abel Osundairo to “not hurt him too badly and give him a chance to appear to fight back,” according to the filing.
The Osundairos, who are of Nigerian descent, were born and raised in Chicago.
Smollett staged the attack against himself due to unhappiness with his salary and as a ploy to boost his career, police said. The actor reportedly earns over $100,000 per episode. He is also believed to have sent a threatening letter to himself days before the staged assault.
Empire’s executive producers cut Smollett from the program’s final episodes this season in the wake of the actor’s legal woes. “While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays,” Empire producers Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo, and Dennis Hammer said in a statement. “We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”
Meanwhile, Smollett’s legal team has vigorously defended their client against the allegations, even accusing police of mishandling his case. In a statement, Smollett’s attorneys called the actor “a man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence.” The attorneys also called a press conference by Chicago’s top cop Eddie Johnson detailing Smollett’s case as “an organized law enforcement spectacle.”
“The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett,” the statement read.
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