Jussie Smollett was found guilty by a jury of his peers of five felony counts out of the six brought against him by the state of Illinois for faking an anti-gay, racist hate crime against himself. Smollett’s outrageous lies alarmed the city of Chicago and the world, and he’s finally facing the music. Smollett hired two brothers to wear red hats and attack him on a city street in the middle of a polar vortex while shouting racial slurs and screaming “This is MAGA country!” in order to make people believe he was attacked by white Trump supporters.
The charges were for disorderly conduct and lying to the police. The next step for Smollett is sentencing, which could send him to prison, but that probably isn’t likely. What’s absolutely sure is that we can stop calling it an “alleged” race hoax. It happened. Twelve people decided that Smollett hoaxed the world.
Abimbola Osundairo and his brother, Olabingo Osundairo, also testified against Smollett and told the jury that Smollett paid them $3,500 for faking the attack. Smollett alleged during the trial that he had a sexual relationship with one of the brothers, Abimbola, who denied any romantic involvement.
Related: Smollett’s Lawyers Accuse Judge of “Lunging” and “Snarling” at Them and Move for Mistrial
The reported attack sparked a huge investigation that cost the city of Chicago over $100,000 and thousands of hours in manpower. Chicago leaders were furious that those resources went to help a hoaxer, and they threw their full weight behind his prosecution. When Smollett reported the “attack” on Jan. 29, 2019, it lead to a large-scale investigation that police say included at least two dozen officers and 3,000 staff hours.
Smollett’s defense attorneys tried to argue that the brothers were “homophobic.”
When the verdict was read, Smollett and his family had no reaction. Reporters said that the courtroom was very quiet and his demeanor was “stoic.”
Special prosecutor Dan Webb addressed the media after the verdict was read. “Mr. Smollett did exactly what we said he did,” he said. “Mr. Smollett got up in front of this jury and lied for hours and hours,” he continued. “We don’t expect defendants to do that. Mr. Smollett would not have lost this case unless the jury found that he had lied to them.”
Sentencing will take place in January and Smollett could see sentence of up to three years behind bars but experts do not expect jail time. An appeal is likely.
When asked if Smollett will be charged with perjury, Webb answered, “Let’s see what happens.”
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