Prosecutors drop all charges against Jussie Smollett over alleged hate crime hoax

President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the US Department of Justice and FBI will look into the Jussie Smollett case in Chicago, after local prosecutors dropped charges against the Empire actor for allegedly filing a false police report in a hate crime hoax.

“It is an embarrassment to our Nation!” Trump tweeted.

Jussie Smollett’s Empire employers have released a short but firm statement of support for the actor, after Illinois state prosecutors announced Tuesday that they would drop all charges against him concerning his allegations that he had been the victim of a hate crime in January. Smollett had said that he was attacked by two men yelling racial and homophobic epithets; he was subsequently charged with 16 felony counts after a Chicago police investigation suggested Smollett had falsified reports about the attack.

Despite a range of contested allegations, many unknown details about the alleged attack, and mounting public frustration with how the state prosecution and city police respectively handled the case, 20th Century Fox Television said it stands by the Empire star.

Since the #MeToo movement gained widespread public attention in 2017, the call to “believe women” has become a core part of the fight against sexual harassment and assault.

That phrase and a broader version, “believe survivors,” are reactions to a long history in which women and others who reported sexual misconduct were dismissed, smeared, shamed, or ignored. The call to believe survivors “is a recognition that we live in a society with a pervasive rape culture, in which marginalized communities are more likely to be harmed than folks who are in the majority,” said Preston Mitchum, a law professor at Georgetown and a sexual abuse survivor.

In February, Empire actor Jussie Smollett was arrested for allegedly filing a false police report in what authorities said was a hate crime hoax. But in an unexpected development on Tuesday, state prosecutors dropped all charges against Smollett during an emergency court hearing.

Joe Magats, the top deputy for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, suggested the charges were dropped as part of a deal with Smollett. Magats told New York Times reporter Julie Bosman, “We didn’t exonerate him.” Magats added that he stood by the investigation and charges against Smollett, but that officials agreed to drop the case as long as Smollett did community service and forfeited his bond to the city of Chicago.

In the month since Empire actor Jussie Smollett first reported being the victim of a possible hate crime in Chicago, the case has taken one increasingly bizarre turn after another, with Smollett himself ultimately being arrested on Thursday and charged with filing a false police report.

Smollett, who is black and gay, said he was attacked on January 29 by two masked men yelling racist and homophobic insults. But in subsequent news reports, various unnamed sources were quoted suggesting that police were investigating Smollett for orchestrating his own attack — a rumor that gained some credence once Chicago police announced on February 16 that new information had “shifted the trajectory of the investigation.” Smollett was ultimately arrested; now, two days later, the producers of Empire, whose production team originally staunchly defended the actor, have announced that they will excise all of Smollett’s scenes from the final episodes of the show’s current season.

Empire star Jussie Smollett was assaulted early Tuesday morning in Chicago, in an attack that may have been motivated by racism and homophobia.

In a statement released by the Chicago PD to the Hollywood Reporter and the Huffington Post, police said they are investigating the incident as a battery and a possible hate crime.