The Chicago Police Department (CPD) said Friday night that two men arrested in connection with the alleged attack against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett were released with no charges.
“Due to new evidence as a result of today’s interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The announcement followed the earlier arrest of two Nigerian brothers on suspicion of assault and battery in the case, one of whom had appeared on “Empire.”
CPD confirmed Friday that the individuals arrested were black men, according to The Associated Press.
Smollett was allegedly attacked on Jan. 29. He claimed two men said racial and homophobic slurs, beat him up, poured an unknown substance on him and said “This is MAGA (Make America Great Again) country.”
Several media outlets and journalists circulated allegations from sources that Smollett and the two men planned the attack. Guglielmi, however, said the “supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate” in a Twitter post Thursday.
Media reports anout the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate. pic.twitter.com/iSO5YFv452
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 15, 2019
Police do not have footage of the incident, but are still looking, The AP reported.
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