Jussie Smollett Agrees to Pay $50,000 to Charity of His Choice to Resolve Chicago Lawsuit

Jussie Smollett is getting a slap on the hand for his hate crime hoax investigation.

TMZ reports that the actor has been ordered to pay $50,000 to a charity of his own choosing. He landed on the Building Better Futures Center for the Arts in Chicago, which creates resources for underprivileged youth in mental health, art, music, and acting training.

The city of Chicago filed a civil lawsuit against Smollett, looking to be paid back for the expenses attached to investigating his 2019 hoax, which cost the city $120,000. After six years, Chicago and Smollett settled on the $50,000 donation, and the 42-year-old doesn’t have to concede to any guilt.

In 2021, Smollett was convicted of five felonies in connection with the hoax. That decision was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court last year after he made a plea deal with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Fox.

“Make no mistake—today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb said about the Illinois Supreme Court's decision.

“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.”

Smollett was instead instructed to complete community service hours and forfeit his $10,000 bond.

Smollett has repeatedly defended himself in connection with the case. During a 2022 Sway in the Morning interview, he said he’d be “a piece of shit” if he had done what he’d been accused of doing in 2019.