In January 2019, Jussie Smollett reported to Chicago police that he was assaulted in a hate crime involving racial and homophobic slurs. He was treated at the hospital and released the same day. A police investigation later concluded that Smollett had orchestrated the attack by paying two brothers, who were acquaintances, to stage the incident.

Smollett was convicted in 2021 on charges accusing him of staging a racist and homophobic hate crime against himself, but the conviction was later overturned on double jeopardy grounds.