Jussie Smollett Case: A Timeline of Destruction

Jussie Smollett is an actor and singer. He currently stars on Fox's Empire as Jamal Lyon.

A letter was allegedly sent to Smollett a week before the attack. It had homophobic and racist remarks. It was sent to Fox studios.

Reports broke that Smollett was approached by two white men wearing ski masks outside of a Subway store in Chicago. He was reportedly beaten up, put in a noose, and had an unknown substance poured on him. Per TMZ, the men also call Smollett “that f**got Empire n*****” and yell, “This is MAGA country.” (Smollett is black and openly gay.)

Jussie checked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital to get treatment.

The police look into surveillance footage and confirm there are persons of interest.

It reads:

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, our beloved son and brother, Jussie, was the victim of a violent and unprovoked attack. We want to be clear, this was a racial and homophobic hate crime. Jussie has told the police everything from the very beginning. His story has never changed, and we are hopeful they will find these men and bring them to justice. Our family thanks everyone for their prayers and the huge amount of love he has received. We are thankful to our village for your immense support during this trying time. We are so grateful that God saw him through this cowardly attack alive. Jussie is a warrior whose light cannot be dimmed. We want people to understand these targeted hate crimes are happening to our sisters, brothers and our gender non-conforming siblings, many who reside within the intersection of multiple identities, on a monthly, weekly, and sometimes even daily basis all across our country. Oftentimes ending fatally, these are inhumane acts of domestic terrorism and they should be treated as such. They will continue to occur until we hold each other accountable. Make no mistake, words matter. Hateful words lead to hateful actions. Radical love is the only solution, but passivity will be our downfall. We, as a family, will continue to work for love, equity and justice until it reigns supreme in our nation and all over the world.

With love & gratitude, The Smollett Family

“My body is strong but my soul is stronger,” he said in a statement to Essence. “More importantly, I want to say thank you,” the statement continues. “The outpouring of love and support from my village has meant more than I will ever be able to truly put into words.”

“The most important thing I have to say is thank you so much and that I’m okay,” Jussie said at a show at Troubadour nightclub. “I’m not fully healed yet, but I’m going to. And I’m gonna stand strong with y’all … And I hope that you all will stand with me.”

Chicago PD arrests brothers Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo as the two men who were spotted walking down the street of Chicago after the attack.

Smollett weighed in on an interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts about his thoughts on the attack while complaining that he didn't hand his phone over because "Because I have private pictures and videos and numbers: my partner’s number, my family’s number, my cast mate’s number, my friends’ numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos."

The plot thickens.

Reports started to surface that Smollett orchestrated the attack. "We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” CPD dished in a statement. “We’ve reached out to the Empire cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”

While Smollett is not listed as a suspect on this date, rumors continued to swirl that he was about to be indicted. His legal team claimed Smollett had nothing to do with the attack.

Jussie's Empire scenes are cut, according to TMZ. That same day, CBS Chicago reports that Smollett sent himself the letter and that he pressed on with the staged attack when he does not get the response he expected from the letter.

Smollett is officially named a suspect for filing a false police report. “Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,” a statement from his defense said at the time. “Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”

Smollett was arrested and taken into custody in the early hours of the morning.

Smollett attended the bond hearing at 1:30 pm Chicago time and learned his bail was set at $100,000, he must give up his passport and be subjected to pre-trial monitoring. Smollett will be back in March. The Chicago DA's office has a long statement detailing everything that led to the supposed attack. You can read the full Bond Proffer filed in Chicago court today here GIF Footage of Smollett family (Jurnie and her brothers) leaving courthouse courtesy of Jason Meisner @jmetr22b on Twitter

Thanks to Charlie De Mar's Verified Twitter account from CBS Chicago we can provide you with courtroom sketches.

Thanks to Charlie De Mar's Verified Twitter account from CBS Chicago we can provide you with courtroom sketches.

Thanks to Charlie De Mar's Verified Twitter account from CBS Chicago we can provide you with courtroom sketches.

Thanks to Charlie De Mar's Verified Twitter account from CBS Chicago we can now provide you with a pic of Smollett leaving the courthouse. According to Megan Crapeau of the Chicago Tribune

"A friend of Smollett's from California posted the necessary $10,000 just before 3 p.m. today, per records."

Fantastic video by @MHendricksonCST of the reporter/photographer horde while #JussieSmollett walked out of court after posting bond courtesy of Ashley Rezin's Verified Twitter account

The news earlier reported that Smollett was on his way back to the Empire Set after making his appearance in court today. Sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that they're filming the penultimate episode of Empire Season 5 today and "the writers' room has devised several ways to complete the series."

“Mr. Smollet is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing,” said a statement made on behalf of the star.

Fox released the following statement which confirmed Jussie will not return to production this season: 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.

Empire could be recasting Jamal, according to TV Line

Jussie's problems just got a bit more complicated. When a hate crime is allegedly fabricated, the seriousness of the allegations is determined by the federal courts. A Grand Jury convened and indicted Smollett with an additional 16 federal felony counts in addition to those already slammed against the actor in state court. Smollett faces up to four years of prison time for each count if found guilty, but given the severity of the recent charges, it's unlikely to go to trial. Expect a plea bargain to result. “Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” read the indictment that came down today.