Jussie Smollett Settles With Chicago Over Hate Crime Hoax

Former Empire actor Jussie Smollett has settled his legal case with the City of Chicago stemming from a police investigation into his claims of a hate crime attack.

The two sides said in court on April 28 that they had reached a settlement, according to NBC News. No details on the agreement have been revealed as of yet.

In January 2019, Smollett claimed he was attacked in the early morning hours by two men wearing MAGA hats. The actor said he was doused with bleach, and had a noose placed around his neck by two men yelling racial and homophobic slurs.

Then in February 2019, the actor was indicted by a grand jury and charged with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. The city sought $130,000 in expenses for its investigation of his hate crime claims.

Then-Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx later dropped the charges, but public outrage led to a special prosecutor being appointed to reexamine the case. In February 2020, Smollett was charged again, this time with six disorderly conduct counts.

During the trial, brothers Abel and Osa Osundairo testified that Smollett hired them to stage an attack as a ploy for public attention. They claimed they were paid with a $3,500 check, but Smollett said the payment was for personal training services.

In December 2021, Smollett was found guilty on five of the six counts. The actor was sentenced in 2022 to 150 days in jail and 30 months probation. He served six days before being released pending an appeal of his sentence.

Last November, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned that conviction. The court found that Smollett should not have been charged after he entered a no prosecution agreement with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

A status hearing on the settlement between Smollett and the city has been scheduled for May 29, according to the court docket viewed by NBC News.

Smollett has never admitted that he had a role in his attack. He was removed from the final two episodes of Empire by the show’s executive producers, who claimed his presence would prove disruptive on the set.