Hate crime hoaxer and disgraced actor Jussie Smollett is headed back to jail after an Illinois appeals court upheld his convictions and jail sentence.
The Illinois Appellate Court upheld Smollett’s disorderly conduct convictions on Friday, meaning that the disgraced actor, who was found guilty last year of filing a false police report after he hired two brothers from Nigeria to stage a fake hate crime against him, will be going back to jail, according to a report by The Associated Press.
A 2-1 opinion from the Illinois Appellate Court means that Smollett’s challenge to the special prosecutor, jury selection, evidence, and many other aspects of the case was of no avail.
In January 2019, the Empire actor had claimed he was physically attacked by two men wearing MAGA hats who put a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him, and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him, before eventually yelling, “This is MAGA country!” in reference to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
A search for the alleged attackers would eventually lead police to the Nigerian-born brothers Abimbola (Abel) and Olabinjo (Ola) Osundairo, who Smollett hired to stage the fake attack against him.
A jury would later convict Smollett on five felony counts of disorderly conduct, and the actor would eventually be sentenced to 150 days in Cook County jail, 30 months of probation, pay a restitution of $120,106, and a fine of $25,000.
But just six days later, Smollett would be released from jail while his appeal was pending. Now, the disgraced actor will have to finish his jail sentence.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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