Empire actor Jussie Smollett turns himself in over claim he faked racist attack
Two brothers, who are bodybuilders and aspiring actors, claim they were paid to stage an attack on Smollett.
Friday 5 April 2019 09:23, UK
Empire actor Jussie Smollett has handed himself into police over an allegation that he faked a racist and homophobic attack on himself.
The 36-year-old, who came out as gay in 2015, has been charged with making a false police report and disorderly conduct and is expected to appear in court later today.
The charge carries a sentence of up to three years in prison and Smollett could be forced to pay for the cost of the investigation.
Two brothers, who are bodybuilders and aspiring actors, have claimed they were paid to stage an attack on Smollett.
Abimbola "Abel" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, who were earlier deemed suspects, have now testified before a grand jury.
Their lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, said: "There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said we're going to correct this".
She said that her clients were not concerned about a plea deal or immunity, adding: "You don't need immunity when you have the truth."
Police said there had been a "significant shift in the trajectory" of the investigation after the brothers were freed on Friday.
One of the men had appeared in Empire, police said, and one of them was Smollett's personal trainer, who had helped the actor as he prepared to appear in a music video.
Detectives were unable to find CCTV footage of the alleged attack, which Smollett said happened in central Chicago on 29 January as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop.
Smollett told police the attackers shouted racist and homophobic slurs, tied a noose around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him.
During a tearful appearance on Good Morning America, he claimed he had been "forever changed" by the incident.
Lawyers Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said Smollett "enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked".
Fox Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television said Smollett "continues to be a consummate professional on set" and was not being written out of Empire.