Actor Jussie Smollett has paid $50,000 to a Chicago-based nonprofit as part of a civil settlement with the city of Chicago stemming from his widely discredited 2019 hate crime hoax.
The payment, announced Friday by Smollett in a lengthy social media statement, was made to the Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, which supports youth programs in the arts.
Smollett, known for his role on the television show Empire, was the subject of a high-profile criminal case after he claimed in January 2019 that he was the victim of a racially and homophobically motivated attack in downtown Chicago.
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Investigators later determined the incident was staged, with evidence revealing that Smollett had paid two men, brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to carry out the fake assault.
Jussie Smollett after the sentencing: “I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, you must all know that.” pic.twitter.com/xe2wYpQJ4O
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 11, 2022
Surveillance footage and receipts showed the brothers purchasing rope, red hats, and other materials used in the alleged attack.
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The City of Chicago sued Smollett in April 2019 to recoup the costs of the police investigation.
Though the actor countersued and continued to deny wrongdoing, a resolution was reached last month.
Under the agreement, the city dismissed its civil claim after Smollett made the $50,000 charitable payment.
In his statement, Smollett portrayed the donation not as an admission of guilt, but as a personal decision to support the community.
“After repeatedly refusing to pay the City, I was presented with an opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the case being dismissed,” he wrote.
Despite the settlement, Smollett reiterated his longstanding claim of innocence and referenced a 2024 ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court, which reversed his conviction.
That decision, however, did not exonerate him of wrongdoing; rather, the court found that his initial 2019 plea deal—which included a $10,000 payment and community service—barred further prosecution under the Fifth Amendment’s protection against double jeopardy.
Nonetheless, Smollett stated: “Though I was exonerated by the Illinois Supreme Court in a unanimous decision and the civil case will now be dismissed, I’m aware that it will not change everyone’s mind about me or the attack I experienced.”
Smollett also announced an additional $10,000 donation to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, a nonprofit that works with victims of police violence.
He claimed the gesture was in honor of those “backed into corners to take deals or confess to crimes they did not actually commit.”
The actor continues to assert that he was the victim of a hate crime, despite the substantial body of evidence presented in court that showed otherwise.
A jury found in 2021 that Smollett had lied to police, resulting in a conviction for disorderly conduct.
That conviction was later vacated based on the Illinois Supreme Court ruling.
Chicago officials did not comment on Smollett’s public statement, but have consistently defended the city’s legal actions against him as appropriate given the scope and cost of the investigation.
Smollett’s case remains one of the most well-known examples of a high-profile individual facing legal consequences for filing a false police report.
His actions drew widespread condemnation and national media attention, with reactions spanning across political and entertainment circles.
As of now, with both criminal and civil matters resolved, Smollett says he plans to focus on artistic projects and social advocacy.
He closed his statement by thanking his supporters and pledging to “defend my integrity and family name with the truth.”
If you haven’t seen Dave Chappelle completely destroy Jussie Smollett then you need to watch this right now https://t.co/fYDyevrq70
— Eric Spracklen (@EricSpracklen) September 4, 2019
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