Smollett mystery deepens as probe changes course

The strange case of “Empire” star Jussie Smollett took another turn this weekend with the police in Chicago saying the investigation’s trajectory had changed amid news reports that detectives were reviewing whether the attack Smollett reported late last month had been a hoax.

The announcement came after investigators released two men brothers who know Smollett without charging them after having identified them as potential suspects Friday.

At least one of them had appeared on “Empire,” and Smollett, through his lawyers, has acknowledged hiring one of the men as a personal trainer.

Several news outlets, including CNN, reported that law enforcement sources unnamed in the news item said the brothers had told investigators they were paid to take part in a hoax.

On Sunday, Anthony Guglielmi, chief spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, reported the latest official developments in a Twitter post.

On Friday, Smollet’s lawyers issued a strong statement in which the actor rejected any suggestion that he had any role in staging an assault on himself.

The episode has been in the national spotlight for weeks, and even President Donald Trump has weighed in on it. As of Sunday, police said they were interested in interviewing Smollett again as they sort out what occurred.

On Jan. 29, Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told police that about 2 a.m., two masked men he believed to be white attacked him on the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street in downtown Chicago. The assailants, according to Smollett, hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, put a rope around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him.

Smollett said he went home, and a close associate reported the incident to police 40 minutes after it happened. Guglielmi later told The Chicago Sun-Times that Smollett had been hesitant to call the police because of his status as a public figure.