January 29, 2019: Smollett tells police he was attacked at around 2am while walking home from Subway. He says his attackers were white or light-skinned, and that they put a noose around his neck and yelled racial and homophobic slurs
Smollett, on police bodycam, shows police the noose around his neck that he claimed his attackers put there
January 30: Details are leaked to the public and Smollett wins a groundswell of support. Chicago PD vows a swift investigation to find the attackers
February 2: Smollett opens a concert in West Hollywood, California, with an emotional speech, saying he had to play the show because he couldn’t let his attackers win.
February 13: Unbeknownst to the public, Chicago PD investigators have zeroed in on the brothers after reviewing surveillance footage from the night of the attack and Lyft and Uber records. They pick up the brothers at the airport as they return from Nigeria.
They are released without charge.
By then, stories had leaked from Chicago PD that some suspected Smollett of lying.
February 14: Jussie Smollett appears on Good Morning America to tearfully protest that he is telling the truth.
Robin Roberts shows him surveillance footage from the night of the attack and he says definitively that the men shown are his attackers
February 19: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx recuses herself from the case because of her contact with Smollett’s family
February 20: Smollett is charged with filing a false police report
February 21: Smollett surrenders to police but maintains his innocence
February 22: Smollett’s character is removed from Empire
March 7: A grand jury returns 16-count indictment charging Smollett with lying to cops repeatedly
March 26: Charges against Smollett are dramatically dropped. The decision sparks public outrage
March 28: The City of Chicago says it will sue Smollett for $140,000 in wasted police resources
April 23: Abel and Ola Osundairo file lawsuit against Smollett’s lawyers who called them liars on TV
August 23: Former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb named as special prosecutor to investigate why charges against Smollett were dropped
Feb 11, 2020: Smollett is indicted by a grand jury on six counts of felony lying to police
February 24 2020: Smollett pleads not guilty
November 29, 2021: After an 18-month break due to COVID-19 affecting courts, Smollett’s trial finally begins in Chicago
Dec. 6 2021: Smollett testifies at trial insisting he is telling the truth
December 9: Smollett is convicted on five of the six counts of lying to police
March 10 2022: Smollett is sentenced