The Jussie Smollett saga finally ends with charitable donation settlement
"This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear," Smollett said in a statement.
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The curious case of Jussie Smollett and the dubious hate crime has finally come to a close today as the actor made substantial charitable donations to settle a civil suit with the city of Chicago. The city sued the actor for more than $130,000, the apparent cost of the Chicago Police Department probe that determined his claims were a hoax. Smollett, who continues to maintain his innocence to this day, released a lengthy statement saying he was happy to give the money away, as long as he wasn’t giving it to the Chicago PD.
To recap: In 2019, Smollett claimed he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack. However, an investigation by Chicago police and prosecutors determined that Smollett had staged the attack as a publicity stunt because he was unhappy about his salary on Empire. Prosecutors dropped the charges shortly after Smollett’s arrest, but he was later charged again by a special prosecutor and put on trial. (His attackers testified in the trial that Smollett paid them to do it.) Smollett was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to prison in 2022, though he doggedly denied the charges to the end. In 2024, the conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court, not because of any evidence in the case but on the basis of double jeopardy.
TL;DR: It’s been a really weird few years for Jussie Smollett! But the civil suit was the last remaining remnant of his legal troubles, and that seems to be put to bed at last. Smollett made a $50,000 donation Building Brighter Futures (BBF) Center for the Arts, plus “an additional $10,000.00 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center who provides resources to communities healing from the violence of the Chicago Police Department,” per his statement. “The City believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward,” a Law Department spokesperson said (via CBS News). You can read Smollett’s full statement (via Deadline), in which he declares himself “innocent both in the eyes of God and of our criminal justice system,” below.
“Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, City officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself. This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear. These officials wanted my money and wanted my confession for something I did not do. Today, it should be clear….They have received neither.