The actor "Empire" Jussie Smollett files his plea in a case of alleged assault hoax: NPR

Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct, maintaining his innocence despite charges that he would have simulated a possible hate crime against him earlier this year. Smollett's legal team pleaded Thursday in a Chicago courthouse, while Empire actor and singer looked silently.

The call of the actor comes just a month and a half after his original police report drew the country's attention. In the report tabled at the end of January, Smollett told authorities that he had been skipped while he was passing through downtown Chicago just past midnight. According to Empire star, who is black and openly gay and who plays a gay character on TV, his two assailants have verbally insulted him for racist and anti-gay insults – before physically assaulting him, of him pour a chemical and leave it with a rope wrapped around his neck.

When it appeared, the report sparked outrage from both colleagues and national politicians. But after a month, the story seemed to collapse.

Chicago police finally arrested Smollett suspected of having faked the incident "to promote his career," declaring at a press conference last month that he had paid his future muggers – the brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo – to carry it out. Superintendent Eddie Johnson stated that the two men involved Smollett during an interrogation by the police and that the authorities had the check that Smollett had written to them to prove it.

"As investigators were getting more evidence, such as SMS, phone records, social media records, bank records, a video surveillance and receipt of the purchase of the rope, the 39; investigation went from an investigation for hate crime to disorderly conduct. [against Smollett], "prosecutors explained in their link offer.

Smollett, meanwhile, vehemently defended what his legal team – in a statement last month – called "an organized show of law enforcement that has no place in the US legal system".

"There has been a lot of false information in this case that has been presented as obviously false facts and evidence against Mr. Smollett," said his lawyer, Tina Glandian, at the end of a hearing. held Tuesday in Chicago, while his client walked quickly in front of the fray. "We are hosting the cameras in the courtroom so that the media can see the real evidence – and what we think is a lack of evidence – against Mr. Smollett, and we look forward to full transparency and truth. emanating . "

Colleagues of the actor on Empire lost little time responding to the allegations. In a statement issued just one day after his arrest, the producers in the series stated that they "were deeply interested in him" and that they were "trusting the judicial system as and when that the process unfolds ".

But they added: "We are also aware of the effects of this process on the actors and team members working on our show.To avoid any further disruption on the set, we decided to delete [Smollett’s] role of & # 39; Jamal & # 39; among the last two episodes of the season. "

A grand jury from Cook County, Illinois, has indicted Smollett for 16 counts of disorderly driving last week. Each leader carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

Smollett is expected to return to court in April.