Famous actor Jussie Smollett was arrested on February 21 for making a false police report which is a class four felony. Smollett alleged that he was attacked by two males as a hate crime. Later on investigators found out his report was false, and Smollett was brought into custody. Smollett was released on a $10,000 bond, but his passport was revoked requiring him to stay in the United States until his court case is finalized.

 It is believed that Smollett orchestrated his attack because he was unsatisfied with his career and accompanying salary from the hit TV show Empire. Due to this, he decided to stage an attack making himself appear as a victim, only to gain attention from the media. In order to do this, Smollett paid two brothers $3,500 to attack him. This plan consisted of both men wearing gloves and uttering racial slurs while pretending to attempt to kill him. Officers believed Smollett until they got custody of the attackers and, after 47 hours, were able to make one confess.

 When this first hit the media, many celebrities and politicians reacted with sympathetic posts about the Empire star and how it was a tragedy. When got the real story, however, there was a lot of backlash, especially from President Trump and famous female rapper Cardi B.