Actor Jussie Smollett Googled his name more than 50 times in the days after the alleged staged hate crime attack against him.
CBS 2 reporter Charlie De Mar tweeted an image of the actor’s search history which was released by Chicago police yesterday:
Chicago Police released Jussie Smollett’s search history in the days following the reported attack.
He googled “Jussie Smollett” at least 50+ times.
(Not all searches pictured here)@cbschicago pic.twitter.com/vXFSFe6lck
— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) June 25, 2019
Chicago police also released nearly 70 hours of video footage from its investigation into the Smollett case.
The videos released include footage from when officers arrived at Smollett’s home and are greeted by the actor with a makeshift noose around his neck.
Officers asked the actor if he wanted to take the noose off, to which he replied “Yeah. I do. I just wanted you all to see it.”
According to ABC 7, Smollett’s manager tells officers on the video, “He doesn’t want this to be a big deal. The thing that makes me emotional is they put this makeshift loop, what do you call that thing, a noose around his (expletive) neck. I’m sorry, you know. And that is what bothers me, the cut thing doesn’t bother me at all. If that makes any sense.”
When Smollett learned that the police body cameras were recording the entire discussion, they ask for the officers to turn off their cameras.
“You’re filming this right?” Smollett’s manager asks.
“Yes, this is all data,” an officer replies. “It’s his house.”
“They are filming,” Smollett’s manager tells the actor. “Can we turn it off?”
“Yeah,” the officer replies. “You are giving us permission to shut it off?”
Chicago Police enter Jussie Smollett’s home after report of racist and homophobic attack on Jan. 29. He’s still wearing a long white rope around his neck. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/OeGIjsT6gb
— Megan Hickey (@MeganHickeyTV) June 24, 2019
Police also released footage of the two brothers who were accused of “attacking” Smollett–Abel and Ola Osundairo–being taken into custody at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
Body cam video shows the Osundairo brothers being taken into custody at O’Hare Airport on February 14 @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/LBzryM8Ffa
— Megan Hickey (@MeganHickeyTV) June 24, 2019
Smollett was arrested in February after police officially classified him as a suspect for allegedly filing a false police report. He had claimed he was the victim of a homophobic and racist attack that occurred in January in Chicago where two men poured a chemical substance on him, put a rope around his neck and said “This is MAGA country!”
On March 8, Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts and faced up to 48 years in prison. However, on March 26, all charges against the actor were dropped.
Just last week, a Cook County judge ordered that a special prosecutor be appointedto investigate prosecutors’ decisions to drop charges against Smollett.
