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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Prosecutors drop all charges against Jussie Smollett

Jussie Smollett is pictured in a police mugshot after being charged with making a false police report. Chicago Police Department

Authorities in the United States have dropped all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett.

The “Empire” actor was indicted earlier this month for allegedly faking an attack against himself and later lying to the police in Chicago about it.

“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago,” American media quoted a statement from the office of the Cook County State’s Attorney as saying Tuesday. “We believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”

The statement comes as Mr Smollett was expected to appear for trial at the Cook County Courthouse in Chicago Tuesday morning.

He was accused of faking a brutal, racist attack against himself, during which his attackers allegedly hurled racial epithets at him.

Abel and Ola Osundairo, two brothers of Nigerian descent, were later said to have been hired carry out the attack, with People Magazine later reporting that the brothers apologised for their involvement in the scandal that reverberated across the world.

Mr Smollett “was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgement,” his lawyer, Patricia Brown Holmes, said in a statement.

The lawyer added that Mr Smollett’s record in the criminal database had been wiped clean following the development, which many on social media received with shock Tuesday.

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