All criminal charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped, his attorneys announced Tuesday morning. The Empire actor had been charged last month by the the Cook County State Attorney’s office with staging a hate crime, after claiming that he was attacked by two white men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they tied a rope around his neck and poured bleach on him.
“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him,” Smollett’s attorneys, Tina Glandian and Patricia Browne Holmes, said in a statement. “Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He 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.”
TMZ reports that the State Attorney Kim Foxx told local police she was dropping the case because Smollett would’ve “only gotten community service if convicted and she said he has already performed community service so there is no point in prosecuting him.” According to TMZ, Chicago police are reportedly “furious” about the decision.
After police suspected Smollett faked his own hate crime, the actor was removed from the final two episodes of Empire’s fifth season, and producers considered recasting his role.
Smollett was previously represented by Mark Geragos, who was named as a co-conspirator in Michael Avenatti’s alleged attempt to blackmail Nike. Smollett is expected to give a press conference this morning.
This story will be updated.
