‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett charged with faking racist attack
(Reuters) - Actor Jussie
Smollett was charged yesterday with lying to police when he claimed he was attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs, Chicago police said on Wednesday as they sought his arrest.
Smollett, a 36-year-old black, openly gay actor on the hip-hop TV drama “Empire,” ignited a firestorm on social media by telling police on Jan.
29 that two apparent supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump struck him on the streets of Chicago, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach over him.
“Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter.
The New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said Smollett had been indicted by an Illinois grand jury that found probable cause that he had staged the attack. Lawyers for Smollett, who has stuck by his story for three weeks as police failed to find surveillance video of an assault and suspicions of a hoax grew on social media, did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Smollett’s agent and public relations managers also did not return calls from Reuters.
Twentieth Century Fox Television, which produces “Empire,” declined comment when told earlier yesterday that Smollett had been formally named a suspect in the case.