Perhaps you had thought that we’d heard the last of race hate hoaxster Jussie Smollett. I know that I had. Sadly, that’s not the case. Even after having his false claims about a supposed race-based hate crime attack on him by Black Chicago Trump superfans hilariously debunked and having been found guilty of perpetrating that hoax, he’s heading back to court yet again. As you will recall, he was originally charged with multiple felonies about his orchestrated “hate crime attack” and the costs the investigation incurred to the public. But dubious Chicago prosecutors struck a deal where the charges would be dropped. He was later charged with additional, lesser crimes and convicted. His attorneys are now claiming that he is a victim of Double Jeopardy under the Fifth Amendment and want the new convictions dismissed. (CBS News Chicago)

The legal saga continues for former Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who is now trying to avoid jail time. On Tuesday, an Illinois appeals court panel will hear arguments from his attorneys, who say his convictions should be tossed out.

Smollett claimed he was the victim of a hate crime in Streeterville in 2019. He was charged with 16 felony charges, alleging he orchestrated a fake hate crime against himself. Those charges were dropped.

A new indictment and trial followed, and Smollett was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct in 2021. Smollett filed an appeal in March 2022, challenging his conviction.

At this point, I don’t know why we’re still talking about this guy, but these claims seem almost nonsensical. (And I say this as someone who is not a lawyer and has never played one on TV.) The original charges against him were dropped in a dishonest deal because he had friends in high places, ranging from the State’s Attorney (Kim Foxx) to Michelle Obama. There was understandable outrage over that and some other, far less serious charges were finally brought.

As I understand this from previous cases we’ve covered here, in order to claim a Fifth Amendment defense, the state must prosecute someone twice for the same crime. Jussie Smollett was never prosecuted on the original 16 counts. He was charged, but the charges were dropped under the aforementioned backroom deal. He forfeited his bail and agreed to do sixteen hours of community service, but he was never sentenced to do either of those things. He did them voluntarily to make his problems go away. He had every right to refuse and force the court to make him do it. Under that premise, rather than the much lighter charges he’s facing now, he could have been charged again with the same original sixteen felonies. He’s actually getting off much easier than he might have been in any court outside of Chicago’s notoriously corrupt system.

But apparently, we have to entertain all of these performances yet again and let the Smollett circus roll on, all so he can avoid doing even a single day behind bars or an additional hour of community service after perpetrating such an obvious and expensive fraud. At this point, I’ve simply grown exhausted with the entire charade. While I was very angry about his original hoax, at this point I’ve simply grown exhausted with it. I’m sick of hearing his name and sick of seeing him still desperately trying to grab the spotlight and remain relevant.

Speaking of “obscure,” when was the last time you heard of Smollett professionally outside of this legal case? It’s not as if he was challenging any true Hollywood legends before the hoax and this situation doesn’t seem to have done much for him. I went today and checked his IMDB page. His last credit is for Empire in 2019 which fell apart after the hoax. He does have a producer credit for something called B-Boy Blues in 2021, but it wasn’t an acting role. (I’m guessing someone threw him a bone out of sympathy.) Perhaps even his own former industry has grown as tired of him as many of the rest of us have. Has he considered a job in the trades? Some of them pay quite well and you can earn a lot of respect. Then again, now that I think about it… would you want Jussie Smollett showing up at your door to replace your toilet?