Jussie Smollett is returning to Fox in a whole new show in the fall. This return comes six years after he was on Empire and was written off following his alleged hate crime attack controversy
Jussie Smollett is coming back on Fox after leaving the network’s series Empire following controversy surrounding an allegedly staged hate crime attack.
The controversial actor and singer is going to be participating in Fox’s competition reality show, Special Forces: Worlds Toughest Test, which premieres on September 25. Jussie will be one of 18 celebrities competing in a series of challenges that derive from military special forces training.
The other contestants on the upcoming season of the reality series, Kody Brown (TLCs Sister Wives), Brittany Cartwright (Bravos The Valley), former NFL player Randall Cobb, former NFL player Eric Decker, country music artist Jessie James Decker, former NFL player Andrew East, gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East, internet personality Mark Estes, and former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL player Johnny Manziel.
The rest of the cast includes Teresa Giudice and Gia Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey, model Chanel Iman, internet personality Brianna LaPaglia (also known as Brianna Chickenfry), model and actress Eva Marcille, Fox’s Animal Control star Ravi V. Patel, World Cup-winning soccer player Christie Pearce Rampone and former NBA player Nick Young.
The 43-year-old performer had starred on Fox’s hit music drama, Empire, from 2015 to 2019 for five seasons. Jussie was written out of the show after he was charged with making a false police report concerning an alleged hate crime. In January 2019, Jussie, a Black and gay man, claimed he was assaulted in Chicago (Empire filmed there at the time) by two masked individuals, who shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him.
He alleged that his attackers had mentioned, “This is MAGA country,” a reference to Donald Trump’s signature political campaign slogan. Jussie also claimed that the men put a noose around his neck and poured an unknown chemical on him.
The men, who were accused of the attack, claimed that Jussie paid them to stage the attack. They had initially been detained and then were released without being charged. One of the brothers was an extra on Empire.
Jussie denied the mens’ allegations about the attack being a hoax. He then was charged by the Cook County States Attorneys Office with a felony disorderly conduct charge regarding his filed police report. Jussie was arrested and accused by police of orchestrating his own assault because he was disappointed by his salary on Empire.
The situation went to trial and during the trial, prosecutors alleged Jussie staged the assault because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received. Jussie said in his testimony that the alleged attack was “no hoax,” and added that he was the victim of a hate crime. He pleaded not guilty during the trial and has maintained his innocence.
The jury found Jussie guilty of five of the six counts of felony disorderly conduct. Jussie was sentenced to 150 days in jail, and ordered to pay a fine of $130,000 in restitution fees and fines. Jussie only served six days before he was freed pending appeal.
His conviction was overturned in November 2024 by the Illinois Supreme Court because the court ruled Jussie should not have been charged again after his initial charges were dropped due to an agreement. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had agreed to drop the charges against Jussie if he forfeited his $10,000 bond and did community service. But a special prosecutor charged him again leading to his arrest and trial.
A new Netflix documentary, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, exploring the case is coming out on August 22. The doc will feature an interview with Jussie.
The logline for the doc say it’s a “shocking true story of an allegedly fake story that some now say might just be a true story. Featuring interviews with police, lawyers, journalists, investigators who claim to have uncovered new evidence about the case, and with Jussie himself, this compelling documentary invites the audience to decide for themselves who is telling The Truth About Jussie Smollett?”
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