When a celebrity scandal captures national attention, documentaries about the ordeal are quick to follow. Sean Combs, aka “Diddy,” was first accused of sex crimes in November 2023. Less than two years later, at least a half-dozen Diddy-documentaries are available on major streaming platforms.
On Saturday night, the CW television network ran an Apple TV documentary about a case that dates back a little bit further, but only by a few years. “The Jussie Smollett Scandal” recounts the events and fallout surrounding the infamous hate-crime hoax that Chicago officials say Smollett staged in January 2019.
The special was aired in advance of the release of a much more hyped documentary about Smollett next month. “The Jussie Smollett Scandal” did not contain any input from Smollett or his team; producers reached out to them but didn’t get a response. But, the star did agree to participate in “The Truth About Jussie Smollett?” which will premiere on Netflix on Aug. 22.
Smollett’s involvement in the project suggests that it will be at least somewhat receptive to his claims. And it’s true, without the inclusion of Smollett’s perspective, “The Jussie Smollett Scandal”—which was advertised as an exploration of how the case “snowballed into a clash of race, politics and culture”—actually came across more like “How We Caught Jussie Smollett.”
Smollett, a black, openly gay actor, claims that on Jan. 29, 2019, at about 2 a.m., he was walking home from an all-night sandwich shop in downtown Chicago when he was jumped by a pair of men. The actor told police that his attackers beat him, poured a chemical substance on him and hung a noose around his neck. His assailants also called him racial and anti-LGBT slurs and taunted him, saying “this is MAGA country,” according to Smollett
A week before the assault, Smollett had reported receiving a threatening letter. The letter’s content was racist and homophobic, and the word “MAGA” was scrawled on the envelope.
Most Americans were asleep when Smollett’s attack took place. But, by the next day, outraged reporting on the assault was all over the news.
I recall being shocked at the brazenness as details came out about the attack, but also feeling perplexed. The first thing that struck me was that it was cold that night. Movement-stopping, marrow-chilling, soul-freezing cold. Two-thirds of the nation had temperatures below zero.
In Chicago, the temperature hit minus 23 degrees. The windchill factor was minus 50.
Second, the location of the assault was curious, especially when taken into conjunction with the weather, the time and the information that had come out about the suspects. It seemed odd that a couple of bubbas would be cruising around downtown Chicago in the middle of the night in temperatures that were way below zero, looking for potential targets for an elaborate hate crime.
Even more peculiar was the fact that, by Smollett’s telling, the attack was motivated by both racial and anti-gay prejudice, meaning the suspects were able to ascertain his sexuality on the scene. Even as obvious a marker as race could be difficult to identify in the dark in conditions when anyone on the street would have been bundled up and covered by a hood. It would have been that much harder to peg someone’s sexuality in those conditions.
Of course, the possibility existed that the attackers were specifically looking for Smollett, who, at the time, played a gay rapper on the Fox show “Empire,” which had a mostly black cast. But, that would suggest that these two, presumed rednecks were familiar with the show enough to identify Smollett in the dark in a polar vortex and would know where to find him in the first place.
Still, one thing that I learned from almost the first moment in my life that I began to follow current events is that the news is weird. Sometimes truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.
So, in the absence of contrary reporting, it seemed that Smollett had been the victim of the brutal and heinous crime that he had recounted. The anomalies in the tale made the story even wilder, but they didn’t cast doubt on its truthfulness.
Until they did. By mid-February 2019, Smollett’s account of what had happened was starting to collapse. First, in the aftermath of Smollett’s report to police, he had refused to allow officers to inspect his phone, citing privacy concerns related to conversations with other celebrities. More than two weeks after he was accosted, on Feb. 11, 2019, Smollett finally provided police with transcripts of his phone logs—with substantial redactions.
On Feb. 14, police arrested two “persons of interest” related to the attack but withheld their identities. The same day Smollett appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and aired his belief that his assailants had been white men.
However, the following day, police revealed that Smollett had profiled the suspects incorrectly. The apprehended individuals were a pair of native Nigerian brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo. After being questioned by the authorities, the Osundairos, who had appeared on “Empire” as extras and were gym buddies with Smollett, were released on Feb. 15 without charges.
In the meantime, police had searched the brothers’ apartment. Multiple items were seized from the premises including a face mask, a red baseball cap that resembled a Make America Great Again hat, a phone, bleach, receipts and an “Empire” script.
On Feb. 17, police announced “some developments in this investigation” and stated their intention to interview Smollett again. On Feb. 20, the actor was officially named a suspect in the case. On Feb. 21, he was arrested and charged with filing a false police report and disorderly conduct.
Police also disclosed additional evidence that had been uncovered in their investigation, including a $3,500 check that Smollett had written to one of the Osundairos, which police said was payment for the brothers’ participation in the hoax. Police also said that Smollett sent himself the threatening letter that he had received prior to the assault. At a press conference, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, his voice quaking with fury, declared that Smollett "took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career” because he was "dissatisfied with his salary."
In the 2018-2019 season, Smollett received $125,000 per episode of “Empire.” When the show launched in 2015, he was paid $45,000 per episode. Over the course of his five seasons on the program, the actor appeared in 102 episodes.
Smollett’s arrest began a six-year legal circus with numerous twists and reversals of fortune. In mid-March 2019, Smollett plead not guilty to all charges. In late-March 2019, all charges against the star were dropped, following an emergency court hearing.
Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s mayor, who, like other Democratic officials, had initially expressed outrage on Smollett’s behalf, now expressed outrage at Smollett, saying the actor was “let off scot-free, with no sense of accountability for the moral and ethical wrong of his actions," an outcome the mayor called “a whitewash of justice.” Johnson, for his part insisted that Smollett had perpetrated a “hoax, period” and challenged the actor to defend his innocence in court.
Joe Magats, one of the prosecutors who was involved in the decision to dismiss the case, told CBS that he believed Smollett was guilty of the accusations. The case was dropped, though, Magats said, because Smollett agreed to community service and forfeiture of his $10,000 bond.
Chicago officials were not done with the matter, however. At the end of March 2019, the city billed Smollett for $130,000 in overtime hours that were accrued by police during the investigation of the case. When Smollett refused to pay, Chicago sued him for near $500,000.
In June 2019, a Chicago court approved the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of Smollett’s case, who would also have the power to bring additional charges against Smollett, if the investigation warranted it. In February 2020, Dan Webb, the special prosecutor, decided that it was warranted, charging Smollett with six counts of lying to police.
The trial began at the end of November 2021 and was over by the start of December 2021. Smollett was found guilty on five of six counts, though the charge was amended from lying to police to disorderly conduct.
In March 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail and a fine of $145,000. Six days later, however, he was released on appeal, pending a petition to the Illinois Supreme Court.
In November 2024, the court overturned Smollett’s 2021 conviction, finding that the actor was effectually tried twice for the same crime, since prosecutors had dismissed the charges against him in 2020. The court said this violated the “double jeopardy” clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
The court did not address the facts of the case.
In May 2025, Chicago settled its lawsuit with Smollett, presumably closing the book on legal actions related to his case. The actor agreed to donate $50,000 to a local arts center.
This post is unrelated to my book, The Anti-Partisan Manifesto: How Parties and Partisanism Divide America and How to Shut Them Down. But, you can still buy the book here. For the time being, it is only available digitally. To read, download the Kindle app to your phone, your iPad or tablet, your Kindle device or your computer.
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