“Empire” star, actor and singer Jussie Smollett turned himself to Chicago police Thursday to face charges of filing a false police report after reporting a hate crime against him a couple of weeks ago that involved a noose, an unknown chemical and racial and homophobic slurs.
NBC5 reports that he was released after posting bail and admitting to police that he has a drug problem. His team issued a statement maintaining his innocence and he’s been written out of the last two episodes of Empire for the season.
CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson was clearly UPset when he announced the charges, saying this was an undeserved scar on Chicago and that Jussie “took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career” in an effort to get more attention and money for his work on “Empire.” The FBI is still investigating a threatening letter he allegedly sent himself.
I can’t help but focus on two things that popped in my head since the arrest and this “plot” was revealed…
… this is not quite over yet – the FBI is still involved and there are still odd things about this storyline and more details will likely come out. (Lord help us, because this coverage has been exhausting enough already.)
…AND let’s not ignore the fact that Jussie DID get a LOT of attention from this. IF -- and this is a very big IF -- IF he did this purposely, deliberately and in his right mind, you have to admit that he may have succeeded in at least one of his goals. You cannot PAY for the daily national press coverage this story got and it definitely raised his profile because now, people who had NO idea who he was, do indeed know his name. And very lucrative careers have been built on far less fame and notoriety.
As I always like to say… I guess we’ll see.