“Grateful for LOVE. Grateful for y’all. Grateful for another year around the sun. #SummerSolstice #StillSmiling,” said the Instagram message.
Judge Michael Toomin said Friday that the Smollett case was filled with legal blunder and called on an independent counsel to “restore the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system.”
Smollett had claimed he was attacked by two men in the early morning on a frigid Chicago street. Investigators determined that the attack was staged. Smollett subsequently lost his job on the TV show Empire, and the showrunners said he will not return.