Jussie Smollett: New Details Emerge About Night of Attack
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
© Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
More details are coming to light about the attack Jussie Smollett suffered early Tuesday morning in Chicago.
A source previously told ET that the Empire star was walking when two men started yelling racial and homophobic slurs at him, before repeatedly hitting him. According to the source, the men then poured a substance on him believed to be bleach and one of the attackers put a rope around his neck.
ET has now learned that Smollett was then taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital by his manager.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department also tells ET that Smollett still had the rope around his neck when he made contact with officers at 2:42 a.m. on Tuesday. The spokesperson says that Smollett told detectives in a follow-up interview late Tuesday afternoon that his two attackers yelled, “MAGA country” to him during the attack.
The police spokesperson says the department is currently “utilizing resources to investigate [this case] thoroughly." According to authorities, detectives continue to look at city and privately owned surveillance footage that was recorded in the area where the attack happened.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness tells ET that Smollett visited a Subway fast food restaurant alone early Tuesday morning before the attack, ordered a sub and a salad, and left around 2:15 a.m.
An employee at the Subway restaurant not far from where Smollett was attacked previously told ET that Chicago Police came to the fast food restaurant early Tuesday afternoon looking to review surveillance footage. The Subway location is about a four to five-minute walk from the Loews Hotel where Smollett was reportedly staying.
As for how Smollett is doing following the attack , a source tells ET that the 35-year-old actor -- who has received an outpouring of support from his Empire castmates as well as other celebs -- is "thankful to be alive."
“Jussie is surrounded by family and friends and is thankful to be alive,” the source says. “Jussie is a fighter and will come out of this stronger.”
For more details on the ongoing investigation, watch the video below:
Reporting by Brendon Geoffrion and Courtney Tezeno
Video at link
Tags
Who is online
102 visitors
How someone can attack another person they don't even know. Just full of hate.
One sad thing is, people will still deny hateful rhetoric coming from the top has an impact.
Interesting. he didn't tell the police that.
Maybe he didn't think of it yet.
Saw a report last night stating that there is absolutely no evidence of that being yelled. But the bloggers in the MSM keep running with it.
More needs to come out. For now I am going by what he has said.
What he supposedly said is what's in question. For all we know it was auto-erotic asphyxia gone wrong.
Don't know. Was residue of bleach on his skin and clothes? Is the rope retained as evidence?
Who in their right mind would wear a noose for an hour after an attack. Any common sense person would rip it off as soon as they were safe.
Now a neighbor claims she saw a "redneck" hanging around the apartment complex before the alleged attack. The sheer bigotry of liberals to claim something of someone simply based on what an alleged person was allegedly wearing is absolutely mind numbing.
I wonder how the left would react if a conservative said a male in San Francisco attacked him, wearing skinny jeans, so he was probably gay and liberal? The left would absolutely go batshit crazy over it.
I hope they catch the idiots who did this and put them in a cell or pod with a few gay men.
There are a few things that sorta bother me...One - Since when has Chicago become 'MAGA Country'? Two - Who carries bleach and a rope around with them at 2am? Three - Was he with his manager, or did he call him so that he could take him to the hospital?
Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not saying it didn't happen...just that the reporting only raised more questions for me.
I wonder why this has dropped off the radar?
It is an odd one. That he wouldn't turn over his phone.
Now I have heard that he received a death threat at the Fox studio yet he supposedly turned down extra security.
Somebody attacked in Chicago? Nope. Not surprised.
The average murder in Chicago gets 3 detectives assigned.
This has 20.
What a world.
Anybody know where governor Northam was when this happened?
I wonder what happened?