Chicago police have released the audio from two 911 calls made to report the alleged hate-crime attack on Jussie Smollett that investigators later said had been staged. “I just need the police to come by, I work for an artist, I don’t really want to say his name, but he states he went to Subway… and two guys, somebody jumped him or something like that. I just want to report it and make sure he’s all right,” a colleague of the actor is heard telling a 911 dispatcher in the Jan. 23 incident. The caller added: “I just think he’s startled… They put a noose around his neck... They didn’t do anything with it, but it’s around his neck. That’s really f–ked up. Sorry, for saying it like that.” Chicago police initially investigated the alleged attack as a hate crime after Smollett, 36, said he was assaulted near his Chicago apartment. The former Empire star reportedly told cops that two men yelled “racial and homophobic slurs” at him, poured an “unknown chemical substance” on his body and looped a noose around his neck. Police later said Smollett staged the attack, and charged him with filing a false police report. Prosecutors later dropped those charges, prompting scrutiny of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and calls for an investigation into her office’s handling of the matter.
1. This is a portion of the 911 call placed on Jussie Smollett’s behalf.
The “beeps” you hear are redactions made before audio was released to the media.
