Jussie Smollett has walked free after one of the most eventful and unpredictable news stories of the year so far.

The Empire actor was accused of faking an assault against him, after reporting an attack by two men in January 2019. He consistently denied the allegation.

Jussie claimed that he had a rope put around his neck and had an unknown substance splashed on his face by two men using pro-Donald Trump slogans.

The charges have been dropped but that doesn’t mean we know what happened.

• How the Jussie Smollett drama unfolded

Here are five big questions you might still have about what really happened in that CCTV blind spot in Chicago earlier this year.

Did he do it?

We still don’t know. Jussie Smollett was not found guilty of faking the attack, but neither was he proven innocent.  That fact that prosecutors dropped the charges without sharing the reasons why means that people have no clearer knowledge about what happened. Jussie’s fans have been celebrating the result as proof of his innocence, however.

What has happened with his role on Empire?

In February, after the incident, there were reports that Jussie’s scenes were cut from upcoming episodes of Empire. Earlier this month Lee Daniels, the show’s creator, said that he and the show’s cast has experienced “pain and anger and sadness and frustration” due to the allegations.

But since the charges were dismissed, both the official Empire Twitter account and the account for the show’s writers have voiced their support for the actor.

//SC//BBC//