‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to hoaxing Chicago hate-crime attack
- Jussie Smollet faces 16 charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a US$25,000 fine
Empire actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty in a Chicago court on Thursday to new charges that he falsely reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault on a city street.
Wearing a navy suit and dress coat, Smollett, 36, was serious and quiet standing next to his lawyers as Cook County Circuit Court Judge Steven Watkins was assigned to his case.
“Yes, sir,” Smollett said in a soft voice as the judge instructed him that he would next return to court on April 12. Some of his relatives sat in the court’s overflow gallery near a handful of fans, some wearing Empire shirts.
In an indictment returned by a grand jury last Thursday, Smollett, who is black, openly gay and plays a gay musician on Fox’s hip-hop drama, was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct alleging he gave false accounts of an attack on him to police investigators.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a US$25,000 fine.