Editing Jussie Smollett (section)

===Arrest===
On February 20, Smollett was charged by a grand jury with a class 4 felony for filing a false police report, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years in Illinois. The following day, Smollett turned himself into the Chicago Police Department and was named as a suspect for filing a fake police report.

Later that day, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson held a press conference, gave details of the investigation, and explained how the department concluded that the alleged assault was staged. Chicago PD believe that Smollett staged the attack as a publicity stunt meant to further his career, as he was not satisfied with his salary. The brothers who say they helped stage the attack said that Smollett had the idea to fake the crime after the threatening letter he received did not receive as much attention as he wanted it to. Police alleged that the actor intended to further his career by tying the incident to racism in the United States and President Trump, and that Smollett sent himself the threatening letter. Smollett was released from prison on February 21 on a $10,000 bond and was required to surrender his passport. On March 8, he was indicted on 16 felony counts of "false report of offense" in relation to the incident. He and his legal team entered a plea of "not guilty."

Following the arrest, Smollett's character was removed from the as-of-that-time unaired final two episodes of ''Empire''s fifth season. He claimed that he had an untreated addiction to ecstasy, but did not have any issues with alcoholism or his mental health. During the aforementioned press conference, police superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said, "why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How can an individual who’s been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in the city in the face with these false claims?" He further called the accusations "a scar" that "Chicago...didn't earn." Furthermore, many of the people who had previously expressed support for Smollet rescinded it.