Indicted: Anatomy Of Jussie Smollett’s Fall From Grace
A Cook County, Ill. Grand jury has returned a sixteen-count felony indictment against Empire TV star Jussie Smollett, escalating the actor’s legal jeopardy in a highly polarizing case centering on a midwinter attack Smollett is accused of orchestrating for his own personal gain. The indictment, which alleges “Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” describes how Smollett devised a plan to stage an assault against himself with the help of two erstwhile Empire extras in the early morning hours of January 29 in his Streeterville neighborhood.
In a polar vortex-frozen alley, Smollett said he was accosted with racial and homophobic slurs, beaten, doused with bleach, and a noose was strung around his neck, by two “white” assailants who yelled this is MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump. Following the incident, Smollett returned to his apartment, where police responded about 45 minutes later. Recognizing the TV and film star, responding officers called a supervisor to the scene, as Smollett recalled the attack for them. He was still wearing the rope allegedly used in the melee, and repeated, cops say, all these details to Central Area detectives who later interviewed him. All these statements have now become elements of the prosecution’s case.
Today’s indictment marks a major development in a case that has all the overtones of the evening soap opera Smollett was recently suspended from after his media-circus arrest and arraignment last month. Having given an angry, tearful interview to Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, in which he asserted his truthfulness and lashed out at those expressing skepticism over his story, Smollett watched with the rest of us as Chicago cops delved deep into the caper, eliciting from Ola and Abel Osundairo, the brothers who played bit roles on the show, gave Smollett personal training, and one of whom allegedly supplied him with Ecstasy, a confession that the whole thing was a sham meant to get Smollett a raise. “The motive for this crime,” CPD superintendent Eddie Johnson declared, “was that Jussie was unhappy with his salary on Empire.” That GMA interview, by the way, is now evidence. Every frame of it.
While a sixteen-count indictment might seem like overkill to some people, there’s actually a legal rationale for it; each count represents a different element in the theory of the crime, and so constitutes a separate offense in the case. In other words, every part of Jussie’s story — the alleged race of his attackers, the use of hateful slurs, the way the assailants allegedly poured a chemical on Smollett, the use of a noose-like rope, are all false reports in and of themselves, constituting a specific offense related to the overall crime. As each count in the indictment is a Class 4 felony in Illinois, if Smollett is convicted in any three of them at a trial or plea agreement, he will do mandatory prison time. Each count carries a potential three-year sentence. Smollett is due back in court this Thursday to formally enter a plea.
That’s where things stand as of this writing. In the convoluted legalese of the indictment, however, is the stark anatomy of a major celebrity’s shocking fall from grace. Smollett, an actor from a family of actors, struck gold when he was cast in creator/director Lee Daniels’ Shakespearean melodrama about an ailing music industry mogul wrestling with the question of which of his sons should inherit his Empire. As a Black, gay actor on a prime-time hit series, Smollett enjoyed skyrocketing fame as the show became FOX’s top-rated program. The thespian became a global sensation as his music career — portrayed through his character, Jamal, on the show — blossomed into chart-topping glory. Jamal Lyons mirrored Smollett, portraying the struggles of a Black, gay hip hop artist, and Smollett himself became an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ rights. He was reportedly earning $65,000 per episode — $3,400,000 for a two-season year of 18 shows per season — as Empire entered its fifth year. The world, it seemed, was his oyster.
Then the attack befell, and before long, Smollett’s whole world went spiraling out of orbit. After the GMA segment, in which he railed at his detractors and rationalized things like refusing to turn over his phone to investigators, Smollett went dark, communicating only through a procession of lawyers, and declining worried phone calls even from his Empire castmates. After his arrest (Smollett told the arresting officer he was suffering from an “untreated drug addiction”, which will certainly be an issue in court) and bond hearing, Smollett rushed from court directly to the set, where he attempted to apologize to the cast and crew for the drama, and for not taking their phone calls. The ensemble is said to have erupted with fury at Smollett, with a visibly angry Terrence Howard storming off to his trailer. The rest of the cast excoriated Smollett en bloc, and he soon left the location. Because Smollett involved the show, the 20th Century Fox brand, and the brands of the entire cast in supremely negative publicity, Daniels (who earlier referred to Smollett as “my son”) and the Empire production team elected to cut the embattled star frim the series’ two remaining unshot episodes, effectively ending his tenure with the program.
Now Jussie waits, “under legal supervision”, shunned by virtually everyone except his family, facing a very uncertain future. While his criminal case is likely to end in some type of no-jail plea deal, his celebrity status is done, exchanged, the Chicago cops say, for notoriety, and the whole affair has exposed severe divisions within the LGBTQ POC community. Opinions on Smollett’s guilt or innocence vary sharply, even among other celebrities like hip-hop legend Queen Latifah, who staunchly defended Smollett, saying, “Until somebody can show me proof otherwise, I’m going with him”. Other stars denounced him, as did many LGBT personalities, like conservative commentator Rob Smith. Even CNN anchor Don Lemon criticized Smollett for damaging the LGBT community and making it harder for hate crime victims to come forward.
If Empire is Shakespearean in its storytelling, there, too, is something profoundly tragic in the still-unfolding Smollett imbroglio, with all its sanguine self-destructiveness and scandalous effect. Surely the immortal Bard would have read a soliloquy or two into the sad chronicle of Jussie Smollett. The saga, meanwhile, continues.
