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FILE -
In this
Aug. 8,
2017
file
photo,
Jussie
Smollett
participates
in the
"Empire"
panel
during
the FOX
Television
Critics
Association
Summer
Press
Tour at
the
Beverly
Hilton
in
Beverly
Hills,
Calif.
Smollett,
an actor
on the
TV
series
"Empire,"
is also
an R&B
musician
who
performed
Saturday
night,
Feb. 2,
2019, at
a
concert
in Los
Angeles.
Smollett,
who is
openly
gay,
says two
masked
men
attacked
him
early
Tuesday
in
Chicago
in what
police
are
investigating
as a
possible
hate
crime.
(Photo
by Willy
Sanjuan/Invision/AP,
File) |
| |
Is Story
Changing?
Key
moments
in actor
Jussie
Smollett’s
Chicago
attack
By Tracy
Swartz,
Jeremy
Gorner,
Annie
Sweeney
Chicago
Tribune
Chicago
police
are
investigating
whether
"Empire"
actor
Jussie
Smollett
paid two
brothers
to stage
an
attack
on the
actor in
the
Streeterville
neighborhood
late
last
month,
according
to a law
enforcement
source.
Detectives
are
following
up on
information
provided
by the
brothers
while
they
were in
custody
for two
days
this
past
week,
the
source
said.
Investigators
also
have
been
given
new
details
about
the rope
that
Smollett
said was
made
into a
noose
and
placed
around
his neck
as he
walked
toward
his
apartment
in the
300
block of
East
North
Water
Street,
the
source
said.
Detectives
had been
searching
area
retailers
to find
the
source
of the
rope but
the new
information
allowed
them to
narrow
their
search
and find
where it
was
sold,
the
source
said.
The
brothers,
25 and
27, were
released
without
charges
late
Friday,
12 hours
after
police
had
called
them
"possible
suspects."
Detectives
still
need to
verify
their
stories
and the
investigation
was
continuing.
Chicago
police
announced
Saturday
that
investigators
hope to
interview
Smollett
soon.
The
actor
issued a
strongly
worded
statement
late
Saturday
insisting
the
attack
happened.
"Jussie
Smollett
is
angered
and
devastated
by
recent
reports
that the
perpetrators
are
individuals
he is
familiar
with,"
read the
statement
from his
attorneys.
"He has
been
further
victimized
by
claims
attributed
to these
alleged
perpetrators
that
Jussie
played a
role in
his own
attack.
Nothing
is
further
from the
truth."
The
statement
said one
of the
brothers
was
Smollett's
personal
trainer,
the
first
time he
has
acknowledged
knowing
either
of them.
The two
also
reportedly
worked
with
Smollett
on
“Empire.”
A
representative
for the
Fox
network,
which
produces
and airs
the
show,
had no
comment.
Efforts
to reach
the
brothers
were
unsuccessful.
After
the
brothers
were
released
from a
South
Side
police
station
Friday
night,
their
lawyer
was
vague
about
what
information
they
turned
over to
police.
Pressed
about
whether
Smollett
set up
the
attack,
Schmidt
said,
“There’s
still a
lot of
moving
parts to
this. …
I’m not
part of
Jussie’s
defense.
I’m not
part of
what’s
going on
with
him. I
can just
tell you
that my
guys
(are)
innocent
of the
charge
and
they’re
going
home."
The
men were
arrested
Wednesday
night
after
detectives
tracked
their
movements
on
surveillance
cameras
in the
area
where
Smollett
says two
men
shouted
racial
and
homophobic
slurs at
him, hit
him and
wrapped
a rope
around
his neck
while
yelling,
“This is
MAGA
country!”
Smollett,
in his
first TV
interview,
said
Thursday
he
believed
the two
people
captured
by those
cameras
are his
attackers.
“ ’Cause
… I was
there,”
he told
“Good
Morning
America”
co-anchor
Robin
Roberts.
“I don’t
have any
doubt in
my mind
that
that’s
them.
Never
did.”
Smollett
has told
police
the
attack
occurred
at about
2 a.m.
on Jan.
29 as he
was
walking
from a
Subway
sandwich
shop to
his
apartment
building.
The
brothers,
who are
black,
were
tracked
down
through
ride-share
records,
according
to
police
sources.
The
brothers
are both
aspiring
actors
who have
posted
auditions
online,
including
a scene
in which
each of
them
were
interrogated
by
police
for a
murder.
They
signed
with the
Babes ’N
Beaus
Model
and
Talent
Agency
in 2016,
according
to Don
Underwood,
one of
the
owners
of the
Hinsdale-based
agency.
They
each
appeared
on an
episode
of NBC’s
“Chicago
P.D.”
last
year.
They
both had
roles in
the 2017
indie
movie
“The
Worst
Nightmare.”
One of
them
also had
a part
in Spike
Lee’s
2015
film
“Chi-Raq.”
Neither
brother
has been
credited
for work
on
“Empire,”
though
the
older
brother
said in
a 2015
interview
that he
played
the
prison
bodyguard
for
Chris
Rock’s
character.
Rock
guest-starred
on the
Season 2
premiere
of
“Empire”
in 2015.
A
week
before
the
attack,
Smollett
told
police
he
received
a
threatening
letter
at work.
Witnesses
told
police a
postal
worker
dropped
off the
letter
at the
Chicago
studio
where
“Empire”
is
filmed.
It was
postmarked
in
southwest
suburban
Bedford
Park on
Jan. 18
and bore
two
American
flag
stamps.
The
letters
“MAGA”
were
written
in the
upper-left
corner
of the
envelope.
Smollett
said a
stick
figure
was
shown
hanging
from a
tree
with the
words,
“Smollett
Jussie
you will
die
black
(expletive).”
“Did
I make
that up
too?”
Smollett
asked in
his
interview
with
Roberts.
Police
have not
said
whether
they
believe
the two
incidents
are
related.
Meanwhile,
Empire
is
scheduled
to film
on the
Near
West
Side on
Wednesday.
It's
unclear
whether
Smollett
will
participate
in that
shoot. A
Fox
representative
declined
to
discuss
cast
schedules.
tswartz@chicagotribune.com
jgorner@chicagotribune.com
asweeney@chicagotribune.com
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