CHICAGO (AP) – A judge has set a $100,000 bond for “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who is accused of staging an attack against himself in downtown Chicago last month.
The 36-year-old actor said little other than giving his name at the beginning of Thursday’s hearing.
Smollett’s attorney asked Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. to release Smollett on his own recognizance. However, the judge said that would be inappropriate.
Police allege that Smollett hired two brothers to help stage an attack on him late last month in downtown Chicago. He told police that two masked men beat him and hurled racist and homophobic slurs during the attack.
An LGBTQ rights group is calling on anyone who feels let down by the allegations against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett to channel their anger and disappointment into productive activism to fight hate crimes.
The Human Rights Campaign released a statement Thursday saying that a “rising tide of hate violence has had a devastating impact on Black people, LGBTQ people, religious minorities & those living at the intersections.”
The head of the Chicago police force says that as a black man who has spent his entire life in the city and knows its racial divides, he doesn’t understand how anyone, especially a black man, could use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Thursday while outlining the case against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett that bogus police reports harm “every legitimate victim who’s in need of support” and every resident of the city.
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