(Washington) American actor Jussie Smollett was convicted Thursday by a Chicago court of having staged in 2019 a racist and homophobic assault of which he was said to have been the victim and which had caused a wave of indignation at the time in the USA.
The 39-year-old African-American and gay comedian was accused of having “planned” a fake assault by paying $ 3,500 for two brothers of Nigerian origin, and of having lied several times to the police in his statements.
The sentence will be pronounced later. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, but could only be sentenced to community service.
The actor, who pleaded not guilty, has always claimed to have been attacked in the middle of the night on January 29, 2019 in a street in the metropolis of the northern United States.
Two masked men, claiming to be supporters of President Donald Trump, allegedly hit him with racist and homophobic slurs and put a noose around his neck.
According to his lawyers, Jussie Smollett was attacked by Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, two brothers he met on the set ofEmpire, who were motivated by money and one of whom was homophobic.
But for the prosecution, the star actor of the hit television series Empire engineered the attack to advance his career and because he criticized production studios for not reacting after receiving a threatening letter and phone call.
The two brothers, who were not prosecuted, had delivered damning testimonies against the actor last week.
This case had caused a shock in a country still strongly marked by racial and sexual discrimination. Jussie Smollett had received the support of many personalities from the political and cultural world.
The telesurveillance images, the examination of the telephone data of the three men and videos, however, quickly sowed doubt among the investigators who had concluded that there was a staging.
“False complaints cause real damage,” said Eddie Johnson, then Chicago police chief, accusing Mr. Smollett of “exploiting the pain and anger that emanates from racism.”