Photo Credit: Jussie Smollett/Instagram
When Jussie Smollett’s court records were requested to be sealed shut following the charges being dropped against him in his hate crime/hoax case by his legal team, the request was granted by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. That’s been almost exactly two months ago and since then, media outlets have appeared in court fighting for their right to view these records and as a victory for the press, they’ve had their wishes granted. Smollett’s records have been ordered unsealed by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Steven G. Watkins who says Smollett didn’t conduct himself in a manner consistent with someone who wanted privacy.
As for Smollett’s behavior, don’t forget he had his tearful interview on Good Morning America explaining all of what happened, the performance he gave talking about it and his attorneys doing press rounds discussing it in the open. The only issue is it isn’t clear when exactly the 600 pages will be made public. An attorney representing media outlets suing to see the records, Natalie Spears said today “This is about transparency and trust in the system and we believe the public has a right to know what the government did and why.” Meanwhile, we’re all going to be sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what’s in those court records. And as it pertains to Smollett’s future career prospects, that isn’t clear. After the cast of Empire fought for him to return to the show, it was almost immediately canceled with one more season left where no promise of his return was made. But if he in fact was innocent of what he claimed, we believe in good karma and things will work out for him in the end. That is IF he’s innocent.
