Jussie Smollett now considered a suspect for ‘filing a false police report’

Jussie Smollett has been arrested after he was charged with filing a false police report weeks after he said he was the victim of a hate crime, according to Chicago police.

The Empire actor turned himself in Thursday morning and has a bond hearing later Thursday, per CNN. He faces a felony charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report last month.

Police said Thursday that Smollett sent himself a racist and homophobic letter and that the actor was dissatisfied with his salary, according to the Associated Press.

Smollett, who is Black and openly gay, claimed that two men attacked him in the early hours on Jan. 29 in Chicago after he went to get a late-night meal. He said they hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, placed a noose around his neck and poured a chemical on him, which was speculated to be bleach.

Police investigated the alleged attack as a hate crime, but sources have come forward alleging that the actor manufactured the attack.

Smollett’s attorneys denied any involvement by the actor in the attack, in a statement to EBONY.

“Like any other citizen, Mr. 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,” according to the statement.

Police initially arrested Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo, two Nigerian brothers, in their involvement in the alleged attack. They were later released after police discovered “new evidence.”

According to sources, the brothers said they worked with the actor to help set up the attack and were paid $3,500. Surveillance video from a beauty supply store shows the two men purchasing ski mask, sunglasses and a red hat.