Reporting fake crimes is a serious offense. Being a "celebrity" (I suppose) meant the Chicago police had to waste a lot of resources on the case. The conviction is very credible. That said, I was looking at news of this on youtube and the comments section was filled with hate speech, mostly anti-gay. Fake reports like his probably do the most damage to minority groups that often are the targets of REAL hate crimes. Real crime victims will now be less willing to come forward out of justified fear of being called another Smollett. Given his behavior in court today, I wonder if he would have done better with an insanity defense. What kind of future does he have? Doesn't look good but he literally did that to himself.