Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax

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On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett approached the Chicago Police Department and reported a fake hate crime that he had staged against himself earlier that morning. He enlisted two Nigerian-American brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had worked with him on the television drama Empire, to plan and execute the hoax. The hoax took place on East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. In disguise the brothers shouted racial and homophobic slurs while one poured bleach on Smollett and the other placed a noose around his neck. Smollett described one of them as a white male and told police he shouted "This is MAGA country". The brothers later testified that Smollett staged the attack near a surveillance camera so that video of it could be publicized. In February 2019, a Chicago police raid on the home of the Osundairo brothers uncovered evidence they had been paid $3,500 by Smollett and purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck, and...

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