Things aren’t looking too good for Jussie Smollett after a judge denied the request for his lawsuit to be dismissed.
The former Empire Actor will go to trial where he faces criminal charges of lying to police related to an incident where he claimed he was attacked and the alleged attackers said anti-gay slurs and mean racist things to him.
Smollet’s attorney, Nenye Uche, suggested his rights were being violated because Jussie already did some community service and gave up a $10,000 bond under another deal with a Cook County prosecutor to drop some charges. But nope, Judge James Linn wasn’t having it and wants Jussie Smollett in court to face criminal charges – but he will plead not guilty.
Jury selection for Smollett’s trial could start as soon as November 29, with the trial date currently unknown.
Smollett has been mocked ridiculously for his claim that he was attacked by two masked racists late one night in 2019, but a large portion of the Internet wasn’t falling for it. Even well-known comedians like Dave Chappelle mocked Smollett and the validity of his story.
Deadline reported that Smollett was charged with filing a false police report shortly after the incident because people figured out the incident might have been staged and Smollett was accused of paying two brothers to participate in it. The idea, as Deadline put it, was that sympathy for Smollett would push his career a bit further.
But Smollett was already a major actor on a massively popular show, so the sympathy card didn’t make sense to many.
Smollett’s original case wasn’t ever dropped by the Cook County prosecutor, despite it seeming like Kim Foxx was supportive of Smollett. A special prosecutor charged Jussie with disorderly conduct in relation to the filed police reports.
Smollett told police in January 2019 that two masked men attacked him when he was in Chicago. He was charged weeks later with filing a false police report when it was determined he staged the attack and paid two brothers to help carry it out. Smollett hoped the resulting sympathy would promote his career.
That case, however, was surprisingly dropped by controversial Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx.