Documents related to Jussie Smollett's case to be made public

A cook county judge in Chicago has agreed to release the court case documents of actor Jussie Smollett after several media outlets asked for the reports to be made public.

Scores of media outlets including The New York Times, NBCUniversal, Tribune Media, in an emergency motion filed on April 1, asked judge Steven Watkins to release Smollet's case-related documents, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.

The 'Empire' actor in January claimed that he was attacked by two masked men who yelled racial slurs against him as he is gay and black.

After the investigations, it was said that the actor orchestrated the attacks and was indicted on 16 felony counts by the city of Chicago. However, the charges were dropped in March as he forfeited USD 10,000 and agreed to do some community service.

The demand by media outlets to publicize the documents is made to better understand the case and get some insight into why the charges on the actor were suddenly dropped by the Attorney's office.

However, judge Watkins maintained his stand of not releasing the documents earlier but issued the order later on May 16.

"To be sure, it is easily conceivable that a defendant whose case was dismissed would wish to maintain his sense of privacy, even if, perhaps especially if, the media covered the case," writes Watkins.

"While the Court appreciates that the Defendant was in the public eye before the events that precipitated this case, it was not necessary for him to address this so publicly and to such an extent," he added.

Meanwhile, Smollett who stars in the TV series 'Empire', may not be a part of season 6 of the show.

Fox in a statement said, "By mutual agreement, the studio has negotiated an extension to Jussie Smollett's option for season 6, but at this time there are no plans for the character of Jamal to return to Empire."

( With inputs from ANI )