The Chicago Police Department released more than 400 pages of documents related to the investigation and arrest of “Empire” star Jussie Smollett.
Thursday’s release came a week after a Cook County judge ordered the information be released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from media outlets.
Smollett was accused of hiring two individuals to fake a hate crime against him for his personal benefit and was charged with 16 felonies. The records were sealed after all charges against Smollett were unexpectedly dropped in March by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, generating outrage among police and city officials.
The files, which are partially redacted, include details from the initial report by Smollett that two men had jumped him and shouted racist and homophobic slurs, calling him “Empire faggot Empire n—-r” before beating him in the face and “pouring an unknown chemical substance” on him.
Police say those initial reports by Smollett were false and that he had planned the attack by paying off two men to perpetrate it. The two men were later released, and Smollett was arrested for faking the crime.
[Related: ‘Empire’ to end after next season, ‘no plans’ for Jussie Smollett to return to show]
This is a developing story.
