Jussie Smollett: Trial set for actor accused of setting up Trump race attack

US race relations will be thrust into the spotlight again courtesy of the man who allegedly faked an attack by Trump supporters.

US actor Jussie Smollett. Picture: Getty Images

American crime and race relations are set to be thrust into the spotlight yet again as the much-delayed trial of actor Jussie Smollett, who allegedly fabricated a hate crime against himself to ­further his career, kicks off in ­Chicago this week.

In January 2019, Smollett, a black openly gay actor and former star of a hit US miniseries Empire, said he was attacked by two Donald Trump supporters, who looped a makeshift noose around his neck and yelled “this is MAGA country,” a reference to the former president’s “make American great again” political slogan.

Prosecutors later alleged Smollett, 39, knew and paid two black actors $US3500 to carry out the attack, supposedly to further his career and fame, at a time of growing anxiety across the US about rising crime and deteriorating race relations that some Democrats had blamed on Trump supporters.

The case is bound to polarise American debate about crime and race relations following the recent high-profile acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse for killing two men in self-defence at a Black Lives Matter riot last year, and a guilty verdict for three men in Georgia for the murder of a 25 year-old-black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.

Mr Rittenhouse, 18, has accused President Joe Biden of defamation after a 2020 tweet insinuated Mr Rittenhouse was a “white nationalist”.

Mr Smollett’s saga has attracted ongoing attention.

Smollett arrives at court in 2019. Picture: AFP

Vice-President Kamala Harris, then a senator for California, tweeted that Smollett was “one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery”.

“No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or colour of their skin. We must confront this hate,” she said, before later conceding she was “sad and disappointed” about the allegations of fabrication.

Jury selection will begin pn Monday for the trial of Mr Smollett, who will plead not guilty. If found guilty, he faces up to three years in prison for six counts of disorderly conduct in a case that experts said could be over within a week.

“I think that case is an absolute embarrassment to our country, and somebody has to at least take a very good hard look at it,” Mr Trump said in 2019 after the allegations emerged, criticising prosecutors for initially dropping the charges amid questions, over the then Chicago Attorney-General’s personal connections to Smollett.

The trial comes against a backdrop of rising crime across the US. Murder in the US increased 30 per cent from 2019 to 2020 and has continued to rise into 2021, according to official statistics.

Chicago, one of the nation’s crime capitals, where Smollett was allegedly attacked, is on track to finish 2021 with the highest number of murders since 1996.

The nation is also reeling from the deaths of six Waukesha, Wisconsin, residents after a man, out on bail on two violent charges, drove an SUV through a Christmas street parade last week, a tragedy likely to stymie a push by some Democrats, led by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, to reduce barriers to bail.

Andrew Weisberg, a criminal defence lawyer and former Cook County prosecutor, told the Wall Street Journal that Smollett would face a tough trial.

“He’s got to double-, triple-, quadruple-down on this story that sounded ridiculous from the beginning,” he said.