Chicago police on Thursday announced they were questioning two people in connection to the racist and homophobic attack on “Empire” star Jussie Smollet as a television interview aired in which the actor expressed frustration with people questioning the veracity of his story.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives believe the two men are the same people shown in an image police released to the public after the attack. He said detectives were able to trace their location by “meticulously” poring over video camera footage.
“Transportation records” also assisted detectives, Guglielmi said, noting that he could not elaborate.
Also Thursday morning, in an interview on “Good Morning America,” Smollett said that he’s sick of people questioning his report and hopes police find video showing the attack.
“I want that video found, found badly. Number one: I want them to find the people that did it. Number two: I want them to stop being able to say “allegedly.” Number three: I want them to see I fought back. And I want a little gay boy, who might watch this to see that I fought f—— back.”
Smollett also said he refused to give detectives his phone the night of the attack because of privacy concerns.
“I have private pictures and videos and numbers. My partner’s number, my family’s number, my castmates’ numbers, my friends numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos,” he said.
But Smollett didn’t address why it took him two weeks to give police phone records from that night — or why they were redacted to the point that Chicago police said they were “insufficient for a criminal investigation.”
GMA anchor Robin Roberts, addressing the issue from her anchor chair Thursday morning, said: “His attorneys tell us they are willing to cooperate.”
Smollett said he was on the phone with his manager after leaving a Subway restaurant about 2 a.m. Jan. 29 when he heard someone shout “Empire” as he crossed an intersection in the Streeterville neighborhood.
A gay slur and a racist slur came next, said Smollett, who told police he was walking in the 300 block of East North Water Street when the attack happened.
“So I turned around and I said ‘What the f— did you just say to me?'”
“And I see the attacker, masked, and he said ‘This MAGA country n—–‘ and punches me right in the face, so I punched his ass back. And then we started tussling,” said Smollett.
“You know, it was very icy and we ended up tussling by the stairs — fighting, fighting, fighting — there was a second person involved who was kicking me in my back and then it just stopped and they ran off and I saw where they ran and the phone was in my pocket but it had fallen out and it was sitting there and my manager was still on the phone,” he said.
“So I picked up the phone and was like ‘Brandon’ and he like ‘What’s going on?’ and I said ‘I was just jumped’ and then I looked down and I see that there’s a rope around my neck.”
He said reports that the attackers were wearing MAGA hats are inaccurate. And other false reports have frustrated him, he said.
“I’ve heard that it was a date gone bad, which I so resent that narrative. I’m not going to go out to get a tuna salad sandwich to meet somebody. That’s ridiculous, and it’s offensive,” he said.
“Yes, there’s Grindr. Yes, there’s Jack’d. Yes, there’s all of these things, which I have not been on in years,” Smollett said, referring to gay meet-up apps.
“I’m pissed off,” he said of people doubting his story.
“At first it was a thing of like, listen, if I tell the truth, then that’s it, because it’s the truth.
“Then it became a thing of like ‘Oh, how can you doubt that, like, how do you not believe that? It’s the truth.’ And then it became a thing like ‘Oh, it’s not necessarily that you don’t believe that this is the truth, you don’t even want to see the truth.'”
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said earlier this month that Smollett has been cooperative with detectives, and that the department is making progress in its investigation.
“We have no reason to think he’s not being genuine with us,” Johnson said. “The allegations that are described to us are horrendous, horrible and quite frankly cowardly. He is a victim, and we treat him like a victim.”
