Court Unseals Jussie Smollett's Records | THR News - video Dailymotion

Jussie Smollett's court records will be unsealed — due, in part, to his appearance on ABC's 'Good Morning America.'

Transcript

00:00A Cook County judge has granted multiple media requests, including from The Hollywood

00:03Reporter, to unseal Jussie Smollett's court records. During the hearing in which

00:08prosecutors told the court it would not be pursuing the 16 counts of disorderly

00:11conduct against Smollett, the actors' team requested immediate sealing of the records.

00:16On April 1, outlets such as New York Times, NBCUniversal and Tribune Media filed an

00:20emergency motion to intervene and asked Judge Steve Watkins to unseal them.

00:24Over a month later, on May 16, Watkins held oral arguments to determine his course of

00:29action and on Thursday issued an order unsealing the documents.

00:32Now, while Illinois' common law presumption of public access to court records is not absolute,

00:36Watkins keeping them sealed does require good cause. The media groups who are objecting to

00:41the initial decision argue that the matter has been widely publicized, including

00:45appearances by Smollett and his legal team on national television such as Good Morning

00:49America, and that the case points to issues regarding how it was handled by law enforcement

00:53and prosecutors. Smollett's team counted that it was the media who gave the case

00:56substantial public attention. However, the judge found Smollett's TV appearances and those of

01:01his legal team are not the actions of a person seeking to maintain his privacy or simply be

01:06let alone. While the court appreciates that the defendant was in the public eye before the

01:10events that precipitated this case, it was not necessary for him to address this so publicly

01:15and to such an extent, writes Watkins. By doing so, the court cannot credit his privacy

01:19interest as good cause to keep the case records sealed. Smollett was accused of being the

01:23architect of his own January 29 attack, which was perceived as being a hate crime

01:27perpetrated by Trump supporters. Chicago police suggested that Smollett had staged the

01:31attack in order to gain publicity and to acquire a pay increase on Fox drama Empire.

01:36To read more on this story, head to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.