Months After Hate Hoax, Jussie Smollett Faces Six New Charges in Chicago

Former Empire actor Jussie Smollett may have thought that his troubles were over in the city of Chicago, but the Windy City has other ideas.

Just over a year ago, Smollett reported a supposed hate crime to police in Chicago, claiming that two men wearing MAGA hats and brandishing a noose attacked him in the street.  After thorough questioning by Chicago Police, however, the story fell apart.  Soon it was public knowledge the Smollett had paid two extras from on-the-set of Empire to pretend to attack him.  His thought was, if he were to raise his profile in Hollywood by enduring such an event, he would be able to demand a larger paycheck.

This despicable scheme landed Smollett in hot water, but only briefly.  Charges against the actor for perpetrating the hoax were suddenly and inexplicably dropped by a high powered DA in Illinois, royally angering much of the nation as well as the Chicago Police Department.

Now, months after the mess first came to light, Smollett is again finding himself in hot water.

A grand jury returned a six-count indictment accusing actor Jussie Smollett of lying to Chicago police when he reported a racist and homophobic attack last year, a special prosecutor announced Tuesday.

Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct, special prosecutor Dan Webb said in a statement.

Smollett, who is black and gay, was originally charged with disorderly conduct last February for allegedly staging the attack and lying about it to investigators. The charges were dropped the following month with little explanation, angering police officials and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The City of Chicago filed suit against Smollett to the tune of $130,000 – an amount representative of the time and resources that the Windy City spent in their initial investigation of the matter.