Tag: Jussie Smollet
Jussie Smollett Pleads With Illinois Supreme Court To Halt New Indictments Over Fake Hate Crime
Almost two weeks after being newly indicted on felony charges arising from the alleged fake hate crime attack of January 2019, Jussie Smollett was back in court today, in more ways than one.
Appearing in a Cook County criminal courthouse to plead not guilty this morning, the former Empire star was also pleading with the Illinois Supreme Court to kill the latest charges. The filed motion for a stay and dismissal of special prosecutor Dan Webb’s February 11 move of six renewed charges claims that “the recent Smollett indictment wasn’t proper because the special prosecutor was appointed incorrectly.”
As controversy continued to grow around the assault that Smollett asserted occurred in the early morning of January 29, 2019 and the sudden and seemingly painless dropping of 16 subsequent charges in March of last year by the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, ex-U.S. Attorney Webb was appointed by a judge late last summer – an appointment that never should have been allowed to go forward.
“The circumstances surrounding the initial case in 2019 did not reach the legal level warranting the appointment of a special prosecutor,” lawyer William J. Quinlan and long-time Smollett attorney Tina Glandian stated in the paperwork. “Under the terms of the law, in order to appoint a special prosecutor, the office (of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx) had to file a former recusal with the court,” the motion added, “and that didn’t occur here.”
In fact, at the corresponding appearance Monday in front of Land of Lincoln Judge James Linn, lawyers for Smollett sought to have the pause button hit on the whole arraignment due to the state Supreme Court action. With Smollett and supporters standing there, Judge Linn declined to delay the proceedings, heard the actor who played Jamel Lyon for five seasons on the Lee Daniels and Danny Strong created series enter his plea and told him to be back on March 18.
Essentially fired from the now ending Empire once it appeared all was not as Smollett claimed about the early morning attack, the actor has spent the last year battling ongoing and politically invoked lawsuit from the city itself over the initial Chicago Police Department probe into the claimed hate crime, challenges from the once “persons of interest” Osundairo brothers and the steady release of what were once sealed document and material.
Among those matters, there was also a failed previous legal attempt to have the special prosecutor pink slipped.
Thinking he was free of the potential 50 years in jail from the charges of the first case, Smollett could be looking at a decade or more behind bars from the half a dozen new charges of disorderly conduct if found guilty.
On the small screen, a Smollett-less Empire is back on Fox for its last episodes on March 3.
Article via Deadline
Check out some Lovelyti videos:
The Curious Case of Jussie Smollett…+Milan Christopher says he’s LYING! #streetmeat
Jussie “Streetmeat” Smollett maybe looking at 10-20yrs in prison for filing a false police report
CPD Release Video of Jussie Smollett w/ Noose Around His Neck!+ He Googled Himself Incessantly
BREAKING: Grand Jury Indicts Jussie Smollett
Sources close to the Jussie Smollett team and the investigation confirm that the indictment has been handed down.
Jussie Smollett Has Been Suspended From “Empire”
The producers issued a statement on Friday, one day after Smollett was arrested for filing a false police report.
Article via BuzzfeedNews
As doubts mounted about Jussie Smollett’s story about being the victim of a hate crime, Fox and 20th Century Fox — the network and studio behind his show Empire — stood by him.
Hours before he would turn himself in to the Chicago Police Department to be charged with a felony for filing a false report, the companies issued an unprompted statement, calling Smollett “a consummate professional on set,” and reiterating that his character, Jamal Lyon, is “not being written out of the show.”
Now, with two episodes left to film in Empire‘s 18-episode season, Smollett has in fact been suspended from the soapy musical drama. The decision was announced on Friday in a statement issued by the show’s producers.
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our EMPIRE family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season,” read the statement from Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer, the executive producers of Empire.
According to a TMZ story Thursday night, Smollett had gone straight from his bail hearing in a Chicago court that afternoon to the Empire set, delaying production. He tearfully addressed the cast and crew, saying, “”I’m sorry I’ve put you all through this and not answered any calls. I wanted to say I’m sorry and, you know me, I would never do this to any of you, you are my family. I swear to God, I did not do this.”
Through his legal team, Smollett is also sticking with the story that he was attacked. His camp issued a statement Thursday night calling him “a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence.”
Smollett told police that he was attacked on Jan. 29 by two men who threw a chemical on him, called him anti-gay and racist slurs, and put a rope around his neck. They also shouted, “This is MAGA country” at him, he said.
The story garnered Smollett support from celebrities (Viola Davis, John Legend) and politicians (Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi) alike.
But shortly after Smollett appeared on Good Morning America on Feb. 14 telling the story of the attack and ripping anyone who doubted him, two local Chicago TV affiliates reported that the attack on Smollett might be a hoax.
Over the next week, Smollett’s story seemed to unravel completely, with his alleged co-conspirators in the hoax, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, turning against him and cooperating with police. On Thursday, Smollett turned himself in to the Chicago Police Department, and later in the day he was released on $100,000 bond.
Despite how ill-conceived this alleged hoax appears to have been, the police have so far not provided a credible motive for why Smollett would want to stage a hate crime against him. On Thursday, police said that Smollett was unhappy with his salary, and that was why he did it. According to a source close to the show, Smollett never expressed dissatisfaction with his $100,000 per episode salary.
And according to multiple sources at Fox and on Empire, Smollett was never in danger of being written off the show, which was one of the theories that was leaked to the local Chicago stations. Eleven days before the alleged attack, Fox pitched a story to BuzzFeed News about Jamal’s upcoming wedding, saying that Smollett and Toby Onwumere (who plays Jamal’s fiancé) “have a great storyline this season, with an upcoming wedding in the second half of the season.”
The show returns from its winter hiatus on March 13, and there will be seven episodes that he is still in, unless Empire producers find a way to change his presence in the show.
When Empire — co-created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong — premiered in winter 2015, it was a massive success, and finished the season as the No. 1 network show among 18-to-49 year-olds. As is often the case, its ratings have fallen off as the seasons have gone on. According to Nielsen, Empire‘s season-to-date ratings are averaging 5.1 million viewers and a 1.5 in the 18-to-49 demographic — which are still strong for a show in its fifth year.
Now the show is under threat for reasons not even Empire writers could ever dream up.
Check out some Lovelyti videos:
The Curious Case of Jussie Smollett…+Milan Christopher says he’s LYING! #streetmeat
Chicago police say Jussie Smollett gave ‘insufficient’ phone records that were redacted #streetmeat
New evidence suggests Jussie Smollett orchestrated attack #streetmeat
Jussie Smollett update #streetmeat~2nd R.kelly video-Floyd Mayweather’s ghost writer goes off!
Empire Producers Considering Suspending Jussie Smollet From Empire
Looks like things are going from bad to worse from Jussie Smollet. As expected since he is now a suspect in his false claims of being racially attacked, producers are now considering suspending him from the hit tv show Empire.
Fox had previously stood by Smollet after he allegedly claimed he was attacked on January 29th. While they are considering suspending him, Smollet will likely not be written off the show entirely seeing as how he’s a major character on the show.
It’s honestly a shame that all of this mess is unfolding during Black History Month of all times. Smollet is looking at a felony charge and it will only get interesting from here.