Life Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to lying to police about alleged attack March 14, 2019 Maria Puente and Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY Comments Off on Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to lying to police about alleged attack Jussie Smollett, the "Empire" actor accused by Chicago police of staging a fake hate crime for personal profit, was back in court on Thursday.