Actor Jussie Smollett of the hit TV series “Empire”, was the victim of a brutal homophobic & racially-charged attack in Chicago around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.
According to TMZ, Jussie arrived in Chicago from New York late Monday and decided to grab some food from Subway — As he walked out, someone yelled, “Aren’t you that fa**ot Empire nig**r?” 2 unknown white men wearing ski masks then began attacking Jussie, fracturing his rib and then yelled, “This is MAGA country,” as they fled the scene. Chicago police later confirmed in a statement to Gaye Magazine, “The offenders began to batter the victim with their hands about the face and poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim.”
“At some point during the incident, one of the offenders wrapped a rope around the victims neck.”
After the offenders fled the scene, Jussie then self-transported himself to Northwestern Hospital and has since been released early this morning in good condition.
“Given the severity of the allegations, we are taking this investigation very seriously and treating it as a possible hate crime,” Chicago police told Gaye. Detectives are currently investigating and the Area Central Detectives asks that anyone with information about the incident to report it at 312-747-8382.
We are severely disheartened from this news and we are keeping Jussie in our prayers.