For years Jussie Smollett has insisted he was the victim of a brutal, politically charged hate crime — and yet he still refuses to plainly admit what the evidence and witnesses showed. Instead of a simple mea culpa, we get rehearsed denials and courtroom theatrics while honest taxpayers and the men at the center of the story tell a different tale. Smollett’s recent interviews and TV appearances show a man comfortable in the public eye but stubbornly unwilling to take responsibility.
The facts that started this mess are straightforward: in January 2019 Smollett reported an assault in Chicago, claiming his attackers shouted racial and homophobic slurs and even shouted a political slogan to frame the country as hostile. That account quickly fell apart under scrutiny as investigators uncovered inconsistencies and evidence pointing toward a staged incident. Law enforcement and multiple news investigations followed a trail of texts, surveillance footage, and witness statements that contradicted Smollett’s public narrative.
Most damning were the Osundairo brothers’ sworn statements and testimony that Smollett paid them to help stage the attack and even discussed a “dry run” before the incident. Abel and Olabinjo Osundairo gave detailed accounts of being paid and of conversations in which Smollett allegedly described how the staged attack would look. Their cooperation was a central plank of the prosecution’s case and should remain a heavy weight in the court of public opinion.
A Cook County jury found Smollett guilty in 2021 on multiple counts of filing a false police report and he was sentenced to jail time and restitution — outcomes that reflected the jury’s assessment of the evidence. That conviction, however, was later tossed by the Illinois Supreme Court on narrow procedural grounds having to do with how the earlier charges were handled. The legal technicality that overturned the conviction did not erase the testimony, the surveillance, or the public record of the case.
Even after the Illinois court’s decision, prosecutors were blunt that the ruling did not mean Smollett was innocent of the allegations, and many Americans rightly feel justice was undermined by process rather than vindication of truth. Special prosecutors emphasized that the appellate decision was not a judgment on the factual record, which included the Osundairo brothers’ stories and other corroborating evidence presented at trial. The American people deserve clarity, not legalese that allows a celebrity to walk away without owning up to what happened.
Meanwhile, Smollett has negotiated settlements and tried to move on with acting gigs and reality TV appearances while too many in the media treat the drama as entertainment instead of a scandal that cost Chicago taxpayers time and money. City leaders sought restitution for the costs of the investigation, and reporting has shown that the municipal toll of the episode was significant. The elites who rush to his defense or treat this as performative victimhood are revealing a double standard: celebrity privilege over common-sense accountability.
That the two men who were drawn into this controversy publicly call Smollett a fraud and say he still owes them money is the kind of detail the media should have hammered years ago but often ignored when the story served a preferred narrative. Ordinary Americans watching this unfold see a pattern: accusations, selective outrage, a celebrity insulated by lawyers and networks, and no straightforward confession. It’s past time for accountability and for the press to stop protecting a popular figure and start reporting the facts plainly so voters and taxpayers can judge for themselves.
