It looks like Jussie Smollett will not be going down without a fight. The 32-year-old “Empire” actor is sticking with the story he told Chicago PD — on January 30th he filed a police report claiming that he was attacked by two white men in his Chicago neighborhood, who consequentially tied a noose around his neck and yelled “this is MAGA country.” Later on, police found overwhelming evidence leading them to believe the crime was actually a hoax perpetrated by Smollett and two Nigerian-born men who played the attackers. Smollett believes he is part of a Chicago PD conspiracy targeted against him.
Smollett’s legal team issued a defiant statement on Thursday, right after the “Empire” actor paid his $ 100,000 bail and went back to work on the set of his hit TV show “Empire.”
“Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system. The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election. Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.”
What a statement! Spoken like true defense attorneys. Does this mean they believe the Nigerian brothers to be Feds? The African-American police chief to be a paid off operative? Receipts and video cameras showing purchases used at the crime scene all doctored? Are the investigators in the Smollett case conspirators? Of course not.
According to Variety:
“Prosecutors in court today showed a series of text messages between Smollett and the two men, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, planning the attack. The texts included preparing money to buy supplies, buying drugs, setting up meetings and ensuring that MAGA hats and chants were part of the assault.”