Who is Jocqui Smollett?
Jocqui Smollett is known for being a former actor, a real estate investor, and the brother of the disgraced actor Jussie Smollett. Born on 1st August 1993, in Los Angeles, California, USA, Jocqui’s short-lived Hollywood career and lack of media presence means that there’s little online information regarding his height and weight.
Family
The patriarch of the Smollett family, Joel Smollett, was born on 8th October 1956 to Molly Hirschenson and Peter Smollett. Of Jewish and Russian-Polish Jewish descent, Joel’s parents moved to America and became citizens in search of a better life, with Joel himself supporting his parents working as a cable splicer.
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Joel’s wife Janet, was born on 27th November 1952, and is known for being an activist, namely a Black Panther. Later joining an all-black faction of LA’s communist party, Janet’s staunch support of the civil rights movement led to her becoming friends with influential figures such as Angela Davis.
Joel and Janet had six children: Jojo, Jazz, Jussie, Jurnee Diana, Jake, and with Jocqui being the youngest. Interestingly, all six siblings are affiliated to the entertainment industry – Jojo is an actor and producer known for “Moesha” and “City of Hope”, Jazz is married to the film producer Troy Warwell, and Jussie is known for his role in “Empire”, while the three younger siblings have also had careers in Hollywood.
Controversy
Sadly, the Smollett family’s prestige has been tainted in recent years by Jussie’s scandal. In January 2019, the “Empire” star claimed to have been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack at the hands of two masked men who punched him in the face, wrapped a rope around his neck, and poured an unknown chemical substance on him.
Chicago police investigated the outrageous incident which soon made headlines around the world, with Jussie also claiming that his attackers referenced MAGA (Make America Great Again), a slogan used by the then-president Donald Trump and his supporters. Naomi Campbell, Steve Harvey, and Viola Davis were just some of the A-listers who supported Jussie when news of the attack was made public.
Despite suspicious behavior, such as demanding to give the officers investigating the attack his phone, Jussie’s innocence wasn’t doubted. Two weeks later, he provided police a redacted PDF file of his phone records, and two persons of interests who were in the area when the attack allegedly took place were arrested shortly afterwards.
In an unexpected turn of events, the people of interest were released when it turned out that they knew Jussie. The actor’s lawyers released a statement on his behalf, saying: “Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with”. Three days later, Jussie was classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation for filing a false police report, which is a Class 4 felony.
The actor was charged with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report, while a reporter obtained footage which showed the two brothers behind the attack buying ski masks and other materials. Jussie handed himself in to police on 21st February 2019, with Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson claiming that the actor staged the incident because he was dissatisfied with his salaries. Apparently, Jussie had also sent himself a racist letter at a Fox studio, and paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the attack.
The backlash led to Jussie’s character being unceremoniously written out of “Empire”.
Nevertheless, he pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct, which were all dropped following an emergency court appearance. The City of Chicago later sued Jussie for wasting police time, and in February 2020 the notorious celebrity was charged with six counts of lying to police.
Jussie’s trial began on 29th November 2021, with the actor being found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of three years in prison. However, experts think that the actor’s sentence will probably be lighter given his lack of previous convictions.
Career & Education
From 1995 to 1996, Jocqui played Jarreau Jerrico in twenty episodes of “On Our Own”, a comedy series created by David W. Duclon and starring Ralph Louis Harris and Jojo and Jazz Smollett. To date, this is the entrepreneur’s only acting credit.
Giving showbiz a chance for the second time in 2009, Jocqui worked as a production assistant on the short movie “Amanda’s Return” and as a production co-ordinator on “Pitch This”. Seven years later, he was the executive producer of “Smollett Eats”, the family’s cooking show, and appeared in all seven episodes; the series was dropped for unexplained reasons.
The businessman, who studied two Bachelors’ degrees in Global Economics and Mathematics at the University of California in Santa Cruz, describes himself on LinkedIn as a “problem solver” with an ability to “tackle extremely challenging projects head on”.
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His former jobs include working as an Assistant Financial Operating Officer at the NYLA International Film Festival, a two-month stint in Beijing with Gold Millennium Group Consulting, and his time as a Sales Operations Analyst for SurveyMonkey.
As of 2022, Jocqui has been working as a Sales Planning Manager for almost three years. His high-powered job scope includes planning market expansion, and managing a team of data analysts, while the businessman’s current workplace, Snowflake, provides data platforms with avant-garde software.
Net Worth
As of early 2022, Jocqui’s net worth is approximately $3 million, thanks to his business acumen and valuable years of experience in the sector, making him one of the wealthier Smollett siblings, despite not being as famous.
Exactly how rich is the Smollett family, as of 2022? Jussie currently boasts a small fortune of $1.5 million, while Jazz and Jurnee are each worth about $2 million. Meanwhile, Jojo and Jake are worth $5 million and almost $1 million respectively. Finally, Joel was worth $500,000 at the time of his death in 2015, and his widow Janet is worth an estimated $250,000. All in all, the Smollett clan is worth around $15 million, making them one of Hollywood’s wealthiest African-American show business families.
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