Los Angeles, US, July 23: Netflix, the streaming behemoth, is going to premiere a new documentary called “The Truth About Jussie Smollett?” that will look into the very contentious hate crime hoax that the former “Empire” actor was involved in 2019. The 90-minute movie is set to be released on August 22 and will include exclusive interviews with police officers, lawyers, journalists, and investigators who say they have “new evidence about the case.”
Netflix’s official logline says that the documentary will look into “the shocking true story of an allegedly fake story that some now say might just be a true story.” This suggests that it will look into the ongoing questions and changing stories about the event. The concept comes from Raw, an All3Media-owned production firm that has worked on other interesting true-crime Netflix shows including “The Tinder Swindler” and “Don’t F**k with Cats.”
The First Report and the Public Outcry
In January 2019, Jussie Smollett, who was well-known for playing Jamal Lyon on Fox’s music drama “Empire,” said he was the victim of a vicious hate crime in Chicago. He said that two masked guys attacked him, throwing racial and homophobic slurs at him, dumping an unknown chemical on him, and tying a rope around his neck. Smollett said that the attackers said “This is MAGA country,” which was the motto for Donald Trump’s campaign at the time.
At first, the event led to a huge outpouring of public support for Smollett. Many famous people, such actresses Viola Davis and Shonda Rhimes, spoke out on social media about how angry they were and how much they supported the victims. Kamala Harris, who was then a senator, and Cory Booker, who is now a senator, both called the alleged attack a “attempted modern-day lynching,” which drew attention to the crime’s suspected racist and homophobic connotations.
The Investigation Changes and New Claims Come Up
But the story started to fall apart when the Chicago Police Department started a full investigation. Police swiftly released security footage and later identified the suspects as Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, two Nigerian American brothers who had acted as extras on Smollett’s program, “Empire.”
Later, there was evidence that Smollett himself had planned the whole incident, which was a shocking turn of events. Police said that Smollett gave the Osundairo brothers $3,500 to fake the attack. Police say that Smollett’s objective was to get more publicity and maybe help his career, especially after getting hate mail that they said he made up himself.
Legal fights, a conviction, and a procedural reversal
The legal process that came next was complicated and got a lot of attention:
In February 2019, Smollett was charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for making a false police complaint.
March 2019: All of Smollett’s charges were dropped in a controversial move. He had to do 16 hours of community service and give up his $10,000 bond. Chicago’s then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Eddie Johnson were very unhappy with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office’s decision. They publicly criticized how the case was handled.
A year later, in February 2020, special prosecutor Dan Webb charged Smollett with six further felony counts of disorderly conduct, saying that he needed to be held accountable.
December 2021: After a lot of media attention, Smollett was found guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct.
In March 2022, he was given 30 months of probation, which includes 150 days in jail. He also had to pay more than $120,000 in fines, including $120,106 to the City of Chicago for police overtime expenditures and a $25,000 fine. Smollett was bailed out of jail after just six days while he waited for his appeal.
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Smollett’s conviction in November 2024, but this was only because of procedural issues. The court said that he had his due process rights violated when he was tried again after the first charges were withdrawn as part of an arrangement he had kept. The court’s decision didn’t change or question the facts that proved he was guilty or innocent; it just talked about the process of his re-prosecution.
2025: Smollett and the City of Chicago came to an agreement after that. While not all the facts were made public, it was said to involve giving money to local groups to help the city cover the high costs of the probe. Smollett still says he didn’t stage the incident, even though there have been law changes and a lot of evidence against him.
The upcoming Netflix documentary is likely to show Smollett’s side of the story, as he and his team have said it will include never-before-seen footage and testimonies that they think will back up his account of events and question the official story.