Jussie Smollett accused of staging attack on himself
Conversation around the actor's attack has become more hesitant as the case takes an unexpected turn.
Jussie Smollett, pictured in May 2017, reported to police that two men beat him, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him and tied a rope around his neck in the US city of Chicago. AFP/File/FREDERIC J. BROWN
When news of Empire star Jussie Smollet’s attack broke about three weeks ago, it caused a media frenzy and a mixed outpouring of sympathy and condemnation.
“We are deeply saddened and outraged to learn that a member of our Empire family, Jussie Smollet, was viciously attacked last night,” 20th Century Fox Television said on the show’s official Twitter page.
— Empire (@EmpireTVSeries) January 29, 2019
The show’s co-creator, Lee Daniels, posted his strong reaction on Instagram.
“… Hold your head up, Jussie. I’m with you. I’ll be there in a minute. It’s just another f—ing day in America,” he said in a video posted not long after news of the attack made headlines.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOrBBmH6GK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The actor was allegedly attacked in the early hours of Tuesday morning January 29, in Chicago, while leaving a Subway sandwich outlet.
Now, in an unexpected turn, two Chicago police officers with knowledge of the case have told CNN they believed Smollet paid two Nigerian foreign nationals to orchestrate an assault on him.
The perpetrators have since been released without charge.
Meanwhile, Smollett, who has starred in Fox’s Empire since 2015 as Jamal, a successful singer who identifies as gay, has denied the allegations.
During an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, he expressed frustration at not being believed.
“It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot much more. And that says a lot about the place where we are as a country right now.”
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