Despite the fact that “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett considers himself completely exonerated after the Cook County (Chicago) State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all felony charges against him, he is still under investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to ABC News, the FBI continues to work with the United States Postal Service to determine whether Smollett, 36, sent himself a threatening letter to the “Empire” set that he received on Jan. 22, 2019.
The letter — containing homophobic and racist threats and a white powdery substance that ultimately was identified as aspirin — was mailed to the Chicago’s Cinespace Studios where the hit show “Empire” is filmed.
The feds want to determine conclusively if Smollett played a role in sending the letter. As rolling out previously reported, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson railed against Smollett in a live press conference and claimed that the actor mailed the threatening letter to himself in order to generate sympathy, raise his star profile and procure a higher salary. The FBI told the media later that Johnson was premature in making that statement.
The entire ordeal began on Jan. 29 when Smollett told authorities that two men beat him up in Chicago while yelling a racist and homophobic diatribe and saying “this is MAGA country” as an ode to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mantra. Smollett also claimed the two men put a noose around his neck and poured a corrosive chemical over his head.
After the Chicago Police Department investigated the incident, the police and state’s attorney worked to secure indictments against Smollett for allegedly staging his own beatdown.
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, however, Smollett was cleared of all 16 felony charges, a move that has sparked intense backlash from some law enforcement officials, politicians and mainstream America. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel denounced the move as a “whitewash of justice” and an “abomination.”
Emanuel later told CNN, “It makes no legal sense. It makes no common sense. And this is an abomination of my sense of justice.”
