Ex-"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett was found guilty of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct in Chicago after a one-week trial. The jury deliberated about eight hours Wednesday and Thursday after a trial in which two brothers testified that Smollett recruited them to fake the attack near his home in downtown Chicago in January 2019. They said Smollett orchestrated the hoax, telling them to rough him up in view of a surveillance camera, and that he said he wanted video of the hoax made public via social media. The jury began deliberating Wednesday after hearing closing arguments from special prosecutor Dan Webb, who told the jury that what Smollett did caused Chicago police to spend enormous resources investigating an alleged crime that turned out to be fake. Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police someone put a noose around his neck and yelled racist and homophobic slurs. “Besides being against the law, it is just plain wrong to outright denigrate something as serious as a real hate crime and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such historical significance in our country,” Webb said. Tap the link in bio to read the full story. Photo by @apnews.