Jussie Smollett has returned to Instagram for the first time since he was allegedly attacked in Chicago in January.
On Monday, the actor posted a video of Tarell Alvin McCraney's speech from the 2019 Tony Awards in which the "Choir Boy" star spoke of "black queerness."
"🙏🏾 @octarell_again🙏🏾 So much #PRIDE," Jussie wrote alongside the video. He disabled the comments in the post.
Jussie had not used social media since Jan. 28, one day before he claims he was brutally attacked by two men. Since that day, a lot has transpired in Jussie's life and a cloud of suspicion has hovered over his story. While maintaining that he was a victim, police had their doubts, and on Feb. 21 he was arrested after local authorities alleged that he staged the attack with the help of two men.
He was later charged with 16 felonies, to which he pleaded not guilty. Then, on March 26, the criminal case against him — for allegedly lying to police about an alleged racial and homophobic attack — was dropped.
The decision was highly controversial, with Chicago's mayor and police superintendent (and many others) slamming it. The mayor hinted at corruption in the State's Attorney's Office, calling the decision to drop the charges a "whitewash of justice."
The Chicago city government even said Jussie owed the city six figures for the cost of its police work over his alleged attack. The fallout from the incident took a toll on Jussie career — "Empire" creator Lee Daniels announced on June 4 that Jussie will not be returning to the Fox show.
Recently, a slew of legal documents from the case were released, giving both insight into the police's findings, but also raising many questions as to why the case was dropped.
According to Vulture, who combed over the 500 pages of documentation, police said Jussie changed his story about the incident. Also, the two "attackers" — identified as Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo — told police how they proceeded with the alleged attack, while claiming the whole thing was orchestrated because Jussie was unhappy with how the "Empire" team handled a hate letter he'd previously received.
Other documents claim that Jussie wasn't entirely forthcoming during the investigation, as he refused to sign a medical release or turn his phone over to police. He was also apparently reluctant to do a swab test for DNA on a rope wrapped around his neck.