Jussie Smollett case now formally a clusterfuck as Chicago cops accuse him of staging the attack himself
After the better part of a weekend in which the Chicago Police Department was publicly careful about pushing back against news reports suggesting it was investigating the racist and homophobic attack against Empire actor Jussie Smollett last month as a hoax, the dam has apparently begun to break. CNN reports tonight that “two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation” have now told them that the CPD believes the attack was staged, while an official spokesperson has issued a statement saying that recent witness interviews have “shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” and that they’re seeking to speak to Smollett once again.
Said interviews were with two men, reported to be brothers, that CPD picked up for questioning on Thursday after they’d been identified in surveillance footage from around the time and location of the attack. (One of them had also reportedly appeared on the Fox music drama, presumably as an extra.) Police released the two men today without charging either of them, noting that they’d cooperated with the investigation. The same unnamed sources that spoke to CNN about the wider direction of the investigation also said that the department had found evidence that the two men were the ones who’d purchased the rope placed around Smollett’s neck during the attack from a nearby hardware store.
According to Smollett, he was attacked on the night of January 29 by two men who apparently recognized him from Empire; he says they spouted racial slurs, placed a rope around his neck, poured an unknown fluid on him, and physically attacked him. His manager confirmed that he’d been on the phone with the actor and musician, who’s black and openly gay, during the time of the attack. Smollett went to the hospital that morning, and was quickly released.