Trial set to start on charges that actor faked racist attack - POLITICO

Actor and singer Jussie Smollett, pictured in 2016, is about to stand trial on charges that he staged an attack on himself in Chicago in 2019.

That was the story that ricocheted around the world after Jussie Smollett, a Black and openly gay actor, reported to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Nearly three years later, Smollett is about to stand trial on charges that he staged the whole thing.

He was charged with felony disorderly conduct after law enforcement and prosecutors said he lied to police about what happened in the early morning hours of Jan.

Disorderly conduct, a class 4 felony, carries a sentence of up to three years in prison but experts have said it is more likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.

Just weeks later came the stunning announcement that Smollett was charged with staging the attack to further his career and secure a higher salary.

And, police said, he hired two brothers from Nigeria, to pretend to attack him for $3,500.

“The most vile and despicable part of it, if it’s true, is the noose,” Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr., who is Black, said during Smollett’s first court appearance.

And, according to their lawyer, the brothers will also describe how Smollett drove them to the spot where the incident was to play out for a “dress rehearsal.”