‘A stain on my character:’ Jussie Smollett speaks out after reaching settlement with City of Chicago over hate crime investigation

CHICAGO — A day after the city announced it had reached a settlement with Jussie Smollett over its 2019 civil lawsuit, the former “Empire” actor announced that he would be cutting two checks to local charities.

On Thursday, the city announced that it had reached a settlement with Smollett, resolving the 2019 lawsuit against the actor, which sought to recoup about $130,000 — the amount of money spent on overtime for CPD investigators who looked into Smollett’s initial attack claim.

According to the city, under the terms of the settlement, Smollett must make a $50,000 charitable contribution to the Building Brighter Futures (BBF) Center for the Arts in exchange for the dismissal of the case.

“The City believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward,” a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Law said Thursday.

In a statement shared Friday, the actor addressed the settlement and maintained his innocence.

“Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, City officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself,” the actor said. “This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear. These officials wanted my money and wanted my confession for something I did not do. Today, it should be clear….They have received neither.”

In the statement, Smollett said he was presented with the opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the case being dismissed after he refused to pay the city repeatedly.

“Despite what happened there politically, Chicago was my home for over 5 years and the people became my family. Therefore, making a donation to benefit Chicago communities that are too often neglected by those in power will always be something I support,” Smollett said.

But Smollett said Friday that he plans to take it a step further and will donate an additional $10,000 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, which seeks to address the traumas of police violence and institutionalized racism.

The actor said he decided to make the donation in an effort to support those who do not have the resources to defend themselves as he did.

“Lastly, I’m grateful to have had the resources to defend myself. So many do not. They are backed into corners to take deals or confess to crimes they did not actually commit. In their honor, I am donating an additional $10,000.00 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center who provides resources to communities healing from the violence of the Chicago Police Department. To anyone who has had to prove they have in fact been violated, you know how difficult this can be to navigate. I stand with and for you. To everyone who has supported me, thank you. Your prayers and belief in me mean more than words can properly express. I will never take it lightly and will never forget,” Smollett said.

Background

In 2021, Smollett was convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime that he alleged had been committed against him almost three years earlier.

Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2019, that he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack near his Streeterville apartment. Smollett told police that he was targeted by two males who yelled slurs while one punched him in the face and another put bleach on him, before putting a rope around his neck on a freezing night.

But Smollett was later found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct for setting up the attack. Testimony at his trial indicated he paid two brothers, whom he knew from the set of the TV show “Empire” that he starred in, $3,500 to carry out the “attack.”

Prior to Smollett’s conviction, however, then-Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had initially dropped the 16 charges against him in April 2019. Foxx, who recused herself from the case after she communicated with a Smollett relative during the probe, then said she would welcome an independent investigation into the way she and her office handled the case.

That came in August 2019, when Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb as special prosecutor.

Webb led the prosecution efforts the second time around, and a grand jury returned a six-count indictment against the actor on Feb. 11, 2020. Smollett was found guilty of five of six disorderly conduct charges on Dec. 9, 2021.

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation and ordered to pay more than $130,000 in restitution.

However, in a last-ditch appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court in September 2024, Smollett had his conviction reversed. The Illinois Supreme Court made that ruling in November, citing Smollett’s second prosecution after his charges were initially dropped as the main reason why his conviction was overturned.

Smollett had served six days of his sentence.