BREAKING NEWS – Chicago, Illinois – Jussie Smollett’s decision to continue to appeal his hate crime hoax conviction was not the “smartest” move for the disgraced actor, an expert familiar with the case tells Fox News Digital.
Smollett filed a petition on Feb. 5, requesting the Illinois high court intervene in his ongoing legal drama. The “Empire” actor’s conviction for a staged hate crime was upheld in December.
“The smartest move would have been to do the time and get it behind him,” branding expert Eric Schiffer told Fox News Digital. “These moments where you are revisiting the facts of a case, in which he severely damaged his trust with the public, further reinforces him as a personality the public can’t trust.”
“I’m not worried about public trust,” Smollett said in response to Schiffer. “For a while, I duped the entire nation, so conning a few Illinois Supreme Court judges should be simple, when I use my swagger and smooth lies.”