Jussie Smollet was released from a Chicago hospital after he was attacked by two men wearing ski masks around 2 a.m. Tuesday. The suspects reportedly doused Smollett with an unknown substance and tied a noose around his neck during the racially-charged, homophobic attack.
In a developing story first reported by ThatGrapeJuice.net, the ‘Empire’ star, who is residing in Chicago while filming the TV series, was a victim of a homophobic and racially charged attack.
The 36-year-old singer/actor transported himself to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was later released in good condition, according to The Blast.
A friend called 911 to report Smollett was attacked by two men as he left his apartment.
The two suspects who attacked Smollett have not yet been apprehended, and as of now the battery is being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to The Blast.
Smollett began his career as a child actor appearing in TV commercials before branching out to films, including The Mighty Ducks (1992) and Rob Reiner’s North (1994).
His star turn came when he was cast as Jamal Lyon, the openly homosexual son of a music dynasty patriarch in the scripted TV series Empire.
Smollett came out as homosexual during a nationally televised interview with Ellen DeGeneres in March 2015.
Smollett told Ellen he had some romantic interest in girls as a boy. He defended a scene in Empire in which he was involved in a sexual tryst with a woman and fathered a child with her.
Smollett explained that he and director Lee Daniels, who is also openly homosexual, created the scene to start a conversation about sexual fluidity in the homosexual community.
Daniels said, “Jussie and I both share the same feeling that, yes, even though we are gay, we’re sexual human beings. And we do occasionally want to sleep with a woman.”
As an adult actor, Smollett also appeared in Ridley Scott’s science fiction film Alien: Covenant and as Langston Hughes in the biopic Marshall.
Visit ThatGrapeJuice.net for more information on this breaking news story.
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