Criminal charges against Jussie Smollett dropped

Jussie Smollett is no longer facing criminal charges over allegedly staging an attack and claiming it was a racially motivated hate crime.
The Empire actor was charged with 16 felony counts of lying to police about being assaulted by racists outside his apartment in Chicago, Illinois in January (19).
However, on Tuesday (26Mar19), his lawyers announced the Illinois state attorney’s office had dropped criminal charges against him.
“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him,” Smollett’s legal team said in to U.S. network NBC. “Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th.”
The 36-year-old was arrested last month and dropped from the last two episodes of Empire’s current season by producers.
A spokeswoman from the Chicago Police Department told NBC that all questions on the investigation should be directed to the State Attorney’s Office.
Smollett had told police that he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home in the early hours of the morning, claiming he had racist and homophobic comments shouted at him, and a chemical substance was poured on him. Two siblings, Brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, claimed Smollett had paid them to help him pull off the hoax after meeting through his work on hip-hop drama series Empire, allegations he denied.
Tuesday’s announcement came shortly after the star’s legal team announced he was heading to court in Chicago, illinois for an emergency hearing.