“Hey, do you remember that one kid in The Mighty Ducks?”
Jussie Smollett had made the career transformation most child actors dream of. By 2019, he had made it big playing Jamal Lyon on Fox’s hit show, Empire and even established a singing career. No longer would he be remembered for playing one of the kids in an often forgotten Disney film — Smollett had become a genuine star.
But with the way his career has panned out since, he might prefer to be remembered for his child roles. In 2019, Smollett filed a police report claiming he had been attacked outside of his Chicago apartment. The alleged attackers used racial and homophobic slurs against Smollett, an openly gay Black man, in what appeared to be a hate crime. Fans of the actor, as well as public figures, supported him after news of the attack spread but the tide quickly shifted when a police investigation revealed Smollett had paid the attackers, a pair of brothers he knew from Empire, to stage the attack.
Afterwards, Smollett’s only been in the news thanks to his seemingly never-ending legal drama. First he was charged with filing a false police report before the charges were dropped thanks to a plea deal made by his prosecutors. Then he was sued by the city of Chicago, then he countersued Chicago, then he was indicted again on six counts of felony disorderly conduct, and found guilty of five of the six during the resulting trial. As of Nov. 21, 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned those convictions, concluding that there shouldn’t have been a second trial after the plea deal had been reached.
Yikes. All that legal trouble cannot have been good for Smollett’s wallet, especially since it sank his career. Let’s take a look at Smollett’s current net worth post-hoax.
Jessie Smollet’s net worth in 2024
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Smollett’s net worth is $300,000. Other sites estimate his pre-hoax net worth was around $500,000 to $2 million and while we can’t know the exact figure, it’s a safe bet that his net worth is less after losing much of his income.
At the time of the incident, Smollett was earning an estimated $125,000 per episode of Empire, a large increase compared to the estimated $45,000 he was making per episode in 2015 (via Forbes). Allegedly, he had orchestrated the assault as a way to make more money on the show, according to the Chicago police investigating the matter. The police reported Smollett had paid two men he had worked with on the show an alleged $3,500 to fake the attack. Smollett continues to plead not guilty, and maintains that the attack was not a hoax.
Smollett’s career hasn’t recovered since it was revealed he had allegedly staged a hate crime against himself. After Empire wrote his character out of the show, Smollett wrote and directed B-Boy Blues, a movie based on the 1994 book of the same name. His most recent work was starring in the film The Lost Holiday alongside Vivica A. Fox. The film, which was also directed and written by Smollett, was critically panned and has a 2.1 rating on IMDb.