On January 29th it was reported that Jussie Smollett was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago. The Empire actor claimed that two men approached him, left him battered and bruised with a noose around his neck, bleach on his body and yelled "MAGA country" before running off.
When the events hit the media, the actor received an outpour of support from fans, friends, family and castmates all on a hunt to track down the masked suspects. Things didn't go as planned, though, since Jussie's story had holes and inaccurate evidence that overtime led the actor to be accused of falsifying his attack. After denying the allegations, the two attackers identified as Ola and Abel Osundairo came forward and told police that Jussie paid them to attack him.
The Chicago Police held a press conference condemning the actor for taking advantage of such a serious happening and after previously getting charged by the State Attorney's Office, TMZ reports that today Jussie has been handed 16 felony charges for filing a false police report and continuing to interview with the cops when he was lying.
As for the hate mail Jussie received prior to the attack, the police believe he sent them to himself.