In January 2019, Jussie Smollett claimed to be a victim of a hate crime, but police later determined he staged the attack with two acquaintances.

Sentenced to jail in March 2022, which was upheld on appeal in 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court later reversed the conviction in 2024 on the basis that Smollett had fulfilled the plea agreement made in 2019.

[7] The family moved to the Elmhurst neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens when he was two years old, then to Los Angeles when he was about seven.

[7] In 2014, Smollett was cast as Jamal Lyon—a gay musician struggling to gain the approval of his father Lucious—opposite Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard in the Fox drama series Empire.

[20] Smollett co-wrote the songs "I Wanna Love You" and "You're So Beautiful" on the Original Soundtrack from Season 1 of Empire album, which was released in March 2015.

[24] On April 30, 2019, Fox Entertainment announced that though Smollett's contract had been extended for the sixth season of Empire, there were no plans for his character to appear during it.

[18][25] Smollett directed B-Boy Blues, a movie based on the 1994 black gay novel by James Earl Hardy.

[26] On January 29, 2019, Smollett told police that he was physically attacked outside his apartment building along with the use of racial and homophobic slurs.

[27][31][32][33][34] A subsequent police investigation found that Smollett paid two work acquaintances, who were also brothers, to stage the assault.

[47][48][49] On April 12, 2019, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County against Smollett for the costs, totaling $130,105.15, of overtime authorities expended investigating the hoax.

[55] On February 11, 2020, after further investigation by a special prosecutor was completed, Smollett was indicted again by a Cook County grand jury on six counts of felony disorderly conduct about making four false police reports.

[62][63][64] On March 1, 2023, Smollett's attorney filed an appeal of his 150-day sentence related to the felony disorderly conduct conviction in his hate crime hoax.