MAD AS HELL

‘Empire’ Star Jussie Smollett ‘Pissed Off’ by Critics Doubting His Attack

The Chicago Police superintendent said he has no reason to believe that Smollett is “not being genuine with” authorities.

Empire star Jussie Smollett is “pissed off” by critics who doubt his claim that he was brutally attacked by two men in Chicago on Jan. 29, according to a clip of an upcoming Good Morning America interview cited by NBC News. “It’s the attackers, but it’s also the attacks,” he told GMA’s Robin Roberts. “At first, it was a thing of, like, ‘Listen, if I tell the truth then that’s it, ’cause it’s the truth,’” Smollett added. “And then it became a thing of like, ‘Oh, it’s not necessarily that you don’t believe that this is the truth, you don’t even want to see the truth.’” Smollett claims that on that night, two men yelled racial slurs at him, hit him in the face, and “poured an unknown chemical substance” on him before fleeing. Doubts began to surface on social media when authorities said they couldn’t find footage of the alleged attack, and police said Smollett refused to turn over his phone records from that night. But Smollett provided investigators with a list of his calls on Monday, and investigators have released surveillance photos of two people of interest. The Chicago Police Superintendent has said that there’s no reason to think that the actor is “not being genuine with” authorities.

AWFUL

‘Empire’ Star Attacked in Possible Hate Crime: Police

Victoria Albert