Jussie Smollett was found guilty in 2021 of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself The supreme court in the US state of Illinois has overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett, who was found to have staged a hate crime against himself five years ago. The star of the television show ‘Empire’, who is black and gay, was found guilty in 2021 of faking a racist and homophobic attack and lying to the police. Smollett claimed in 2019 he was assaulted in Chicago by two white men