Jussie Smollett has reached a settlement with Chicago, agreeing to pay $50,000 to a charity to cover the cost of the inquiry into his claims of hate crime.
In January 2019, Smollett, a Black man who is gay, said two men in Chicago attacked him, swore at him, and threw a noose over his neck.
Two years later, the 42-year-old was found guilty of lying to police over claims that he faked his attack. Although the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the ruling, he has now agreed to pay $50,000 to a city charity to resolve the dispute over the costs of the police investigation.
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The city first requested $130,000 in April 2019—the sum paid to police for 1,800 hours of overtime work that resulted from his misleading assertions. Smollett countersued, insisting that the incident was not faked.
According to court records, he already completed community service and paid a $10,000 fine, The Independent reported.
To dismiss the lawsuit, the actor has now agreed to pay $50,000 to Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, a Chicago-based organization that works to “improve the quality of life for underprivileged youth and their families by providing safe, stable, and nurturing experiences that enhance social, emotional, academic, and career development.”
“This payment adds to the $10,000 payment Smollett previously made to the City in 2019 for a total sum of $60,000. Since the City filed its lawsuit, Smollett has faced additional accountability through the appointment of a Special Prosecutor and subsequent criminal trial, where the evidence was publicly aired and a conviction secured (ultimately reversed on procedural grounds). Accordingly, the City believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward,” a statement from the Chicago Department of Law reads.
Torri Hamilton, an attorney for Smollett, told The Independent in a statement: “Jussie chose to end this saga by donating to a charity that focuses on the performing arts and underprivileged kids in Chicago. Jussie has always loved the people of Chicago and this lawsuit has been dragging on for six years now. The decision to put it in his rearview mirror by supporting a cause already near and dear to his heart was not a difficult one.”
The terms of the settlement, which the parties had agreed to last month, were just recently disclosed to the public.
Eddie Johnson, the Chicago Police Superintendent at the time of the hate crime claims, charged Smollett with taking “advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.”
“This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn’t earn and certainly didn’t deserve,” Johnson added.
According to the 2019 lawsuit, the city accused the actor of paying $3,500 to two Nigerian brothers he considered “friends” to assist him in staging and orchestrating the incident.
Meanwhile, the brothers’ lawyer said in a statement in February 2019 that they have “tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation.”
The statement continued: “They understand how it has impacted people across the nation, particularly minority communities and especially those who have been victims of hate crimes themselves.”
