Remember when Lee Daniels’ primetime music industry soap drama, Empire (2015-2020), was all the rage on Fox? Well, at that time its breakout star, Jussie Smollett (ex-Jamal Lyon), got himself in very hot water with the law as the series was coming to its conclusion in its sixth and final season.

Now on Thursday, Smollett, who was convicted on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police in overwhelming evidence against him, had his conviction overturned due to prosecutorial issues by the Illinois Supreme Court decision.

The state’s Supreme Court ruled that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and conducting community service.

Photo: Fox

In the charges, Jussie who is also gay, claimed two men assaulted him, spouted racial and homophobic slurs and tossed a noose around his neck. This lead to a very wide-ranging search for suspects by Chicago police detectives which ate up manpower. Empire also filmed in Chicago at the time. In the original court case, prosecutors alleged Smollett staged the attack because he was unhappy with the show and the network’s response to hate mail he received.

Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion, “We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust. Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.”

Photo: AP

Smollett’s attorneys had argued that the case was over when Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped all 16 counts against Smollett. However, that plea deal faced a massive backlash. Next, a special prosecutor was appointed, and a grand jury restored charges, leading to Smollett’s 2021 conviction on five of the counts.

In a statement, Smollett’s attorney, Nenye Uche, shared, “This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system. Rule of law was the big winner today.” He thanked the Supreme Court for “restoring order to Illinois’ criminal law jurisprudence.”

Special prosector, Dan Webb disagreed with the court’s decision expressing, “The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct.

At the original trial, it was revealed that Smollett paid $3,500 to two men whom he knew to carry out the ‘fake’ attack. Prosecutors said he told them what slurs to shout, and to yell that Smollett was in “MAGA country.” This was in reference, at that time, to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.

When the dust settled. Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail, only six of which he served before he was freed pending appeal and ordered to pay $130,000 in restitution for the trouble he caused the Chicago PD.

Smollett recently starred in a new movie with another former soap star, Vivica A. Fox (ex-Generations) in the feature, The Lost Holliday.

Following the news of the overturning of Smollett’s conviction, TMZ’s Harvey Levin, a lawyer himself for the past 50 years, had some choice words on the ruling. You can see that below.

What do you think of Jussie’s conviction being overturned by the Illinois Suprem? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

#JussieSmollett‘s conviction in the hate crime hoax case is now reversed. #HarveyLevin breaks down all we know. Full article here 👉https://t.co/9yzd95Ipu5 pic.twitter.com/FbaK1oYjx8

— TMZ (@TMZ) November 21, 2024

When Fox’s hit primetime soap opera, Empire, hit the air it became a smash hit, especially due to its lead female character, Cookie Lyon, as played by Taraji P. Henson.

The actress played Cookie for all she was worth and the some becoming one of the more original soap and television characters. After all, Cookie went to jail for 17 years before being released, and was the wife of former drug dealer, now music mogul, Lucious Lyon played by Terrence Howard.

Now, Taraji revealed all was not kosher behind the scenes during a sit-down interview for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation (see below). It was there, she revealed that she had to fire her entire PR team and more, because of how they failed to capitalize on her rousing success at the time as Cookie.

Photo: Fox

The moment came about during the Q&A Henson was asked what was the best business decision she ever made.  She swiftly answered: “Firing everybody after Cookie,” adding, “Everybody had to f**ing’ go. Where is my deal? Where’s my commercial? Cookie was at the top of the fashion game. Where is my endorsement? What did you have set up for after this? That’s why you all haven’t seen me in so long. They had nothing set up.”

Empire fans recall that a ‘Cookie’ prequel had been in the works to continue the character after the series was canceled after six seasons, but nothing happened. At the time reports shared, Danny Strong, co-creator of the Empire was said to be co-writing the series, and it would come through Henson’s new production banner.

Taraji explained what went down behind the scenes: “All they wanted was another Cookie show, and I said, ‘I’ll do it, but it has to be right. The people deserve, she’s to beloved for y’all to f**k it up.’ And so, when they didn’t get it right, I was like, ‘Well, that’s it,’ and they had nothing else. ‘You’re all f**ng fired.”

Photo: JPI

Henson added that she felt like she had Stockholm Syndrome from the entire situation, which is defines as a syndrome ‘where hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors.’ (Think Kevin, Y&R!) The moral of Henson’s story was to make sure the people you pay and who work for you, understand that you are the talent and nothing happens without you including them collecting a paycheck off you.

Henson can currently be seen in the musical version of The Color People in movie theatres everywhere.

Check out her emotional and enlightening conversation with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation below.

Now let us know, do you think Cookie Lyon was one of the best TV characters and should have either been spun off into her own show, or Henson should have appeared in more commercial and endorsement deals given the popularity of the character? Weigh-in via the comment section.

Late Thursday, former Empire actor and singer, Jussie Smollett, was sentenced in Chicago more than three months after being found guilty on five felony counts to the alleged 2019 hate crime hoax that made national headlines, and got the actor fired from the former Fox primetime drama series.

In the sentencing, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days starting immediately.  In addition, he received 30 months’ probation, and has to pay the city of Chicago $120,106 in restitution, plus Jussie received an additional $25,000 fine.