Actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct by police in Chicago for allegedly faking his own purported attack.
It was revealed overnight that, three weeks after the 36-year-old Empire star filed a police report saying he had been attacked in Chicago by two masked men who hurled homophobic and racist abuse at him, police were treating as a suspect rather than a victim.
The actor was also charged by Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for filing a false police report.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter: “Felony criminal charges have been approved by Cook County state’s attorney’s office against Jussie Smollett for disorderly conduct/filing a a false police report. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.”
There was no immediate comment from Smollett’s lawyers, or his agent, over the charges statement.
If convicted, Smollett faces up to three years in jail.
Following the news that his lawyers were talking to authorities, sources close to the production of TV show Empiretold Variety that producers are “considering suspending” Smollett. He’s starred in Fox’s musical drama Empire since 2015. He plays Jamal, the gay son of a music mogul, played by Terrence Howard.
Earlier on Wednesday, 20th Century Fox Television said it was standing by the star and offered its support.
Smollett - who is black and came out as gay in 2015 - said that he was “angered” and “devastated” after reports claimed he paid two brothers of Nigerian descent to carry out the possible “racist and homophobic” hate crime last month.
Attorneys for the Empire star denied all claims, saying: “Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”
Guglielmi said that new evidence presented by the siblings had “shifted the trajectory of the investigation” as officers sought to re-interview Smollett about the case.
In the wake of the purported attack, Smollett made a tearful appearance on Good Morning America this month and said he had been “forever changed” by the alleged attack.
He said: “I will never be the man who this didn’t happen to.
“I am forever changed and I don’t subscribe to the idea that everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us, good and bad.”
More follows…
