Jussie Smollet possibly orchestrated his own 'attack'

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Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who said he was the victim of a hate crime, was charged Wednesday night with staging the assault he reported to Chicago police in January.

Law enforcement officials said a grand jury had heard evidence that Mr. Smollett falsely reported being attacked in a case that quickly drew national attention, and that local prosecutors had then charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct.

He said he went out at 2AM to SUBWAY to get food.

I never heard of a SUBWAY store open at 2AM.

Not this time.

It's such a non issue that people have to create incidents. There are so many murders in Chicago and the media doesn't put hardly any focus on it.

Jussie Smollett, upset by his salary and seeking publicity, staged a fake assault on himself a week after writing himself a threatening letter, the Chicago police said Thursday after the “Empire” actor surrendered to face a felony charge of filing a false police report.

The Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson, visibly angry at a morning news conference, said Mr. Smollett had taken advantage of the pain and anger of racism, draining resources that could have been used to investigate other crimes for which people were actually suffering.

The police say the staged assault was carried out by two brothers to whom the actor had paid $3,500 and that they have a copy of the check Mr. Smollett used to pay them. Also recovered, they said, were phone records that showed Mr. Smollett speaking to the brothers an hour before Mr. Smollett said the incident took place, and an hour after that time.

Superintendent Johnson declined to indicate why investigators now believe that Mr. Smollett had also played the chief role in the mailing of a threatening letter he received. The letter, which arrived a week before the reported assault, contained a harmless white powder and a sketch of what appeared to be a man being hanged. According to Mr. Smollett, the return address said “MAGA,” a reference to a slogan from President Trump’s campaign.

Superintendent Johnson referred further comment about the letter to the F.B.I., which is investigating that part of the case. The agency declined to comment.

After his arrest, the reversal in public opinion for Mr. Smollett was quick and damaging. The report of the attack had spurred a national outpouring of support, including from Democratic presidential candidates and President Trump, who called the incident “horrible.”

On Thursday, celebrities, including Michael B. Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross, who had initially supported Mr. Smollett, began taking down their social media posts from the aftermath of the attack.

Mr. Trump said in a post on Twitter, “.@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA.”

Fox, the network that airs “Empire,” released a statement Thursday saying it was evaluating the situation and the network’s options. “We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process,” the statement said.

A detective commander, Edward Wodnicki, said at the news conference, that investigators interviewed Mr. Smollett at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and found he had scratches on his face, some bruising, but no serious injuries.

Police said they had found the brothers using surveillance footage that showed them taking a cab from the area of the reported assault. Investigators tracked the cab, interviewed the driver, and identified the passengers as Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, two brothers and associates of Mr. Smollett’s.

One had worked as an extra on “Empire” and Mr. Smollett later acknowledged that he had paid money to have one of them train him for a music video.

The men flew to Nigeria soon after the incident, the police said, and spoke on the phone with Mr. Smollett while they were away. And they were met by investigators upon their return to Chicago on Feb. 13 and detained for two days.

Commander Wodnicki said that a lawyer for the brothers, Gloria Schmidt, came to him and said: “You really need to talk to these guys. I’m going to allow them to give you a video interview with us present and we’re going to have you hear their story. They are not offenders. They are victims.”

The men acknowledged being paid to participate in the reported assault, the investigators said. While the brothers seemed to have punched Mr. Smollett, Superintendent Johnson said, “as far as we can tell, the scratches and bruising that you saw in his face was most likely self-inflicted.”

The media are shameless and expect people just to forget how many times stuff like this has happened.

Also this rich famous person trying to make out he is the victim when lots of the white working class he despises are living pay cheque to pay cheque.

Oh, but make the "victim" a gay, black actor out minding his own business, and watch the media go into a rage.

Strange ... Robin Givens interviewed Jussie Smollet just as the first hints of his fraud started getting out ... I wonder how this gay, black journalist feels about it now ... ?