© 2026 ABC News

'I'm offended'

During a press briefing later Thursday morning, Chicago law enforcement officials said that Chicago police detectives interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed dozens of police cameras trying to get to the bottom of Smollett's claims.

Johnson, a well-regarded and popular big city police chief and Chicago native, appeared genuinely aggrieved as he described how, he said, Smollett took advantage of the pain of racism to advance his career.

\"Why would anyone use the symbol of a noose\" to further his \"own public profile,\" Johnson wondered aloud.

\"I'm offended by what happened and I'm angry,\" Johnson continued. \"This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn’t own and certainly didn’t deserve.\"

Johnson, who oversees one of the nation's largest police departments in one of its most violent cities, seemed disheartened by all the attention paid to the Smollett affair.

“The accusation within this phony attack received national attention for weeks,” Johnson told reporters during a press conference. “Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor.\"

\"PHOTO:
Joshua Lott/Reuters
PHOTO: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks about the Jussie Smollett case at a news conference at Chicago Police headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 21, 2019.
>

\"When you get the opportunity,\" he said with a mixture of derision and frustration, \"the shooting victims and their families? Give them the same amount of attention.\"

Press Briefing: Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives. At 9am at #ChicagoPolice Headquarters, Supt Eddie Johnson, Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki will brief reporters on the investigation prior to the defendants appearance in court. pic.twitter.com/9PSv8Ojec2

— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019

After the press briefing, 20th Century Fox, the station that airs \"Empire,\" released a statement which read, \"We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options.\"

'Self-inflicted' wounds

Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men near his apartment in Chicago. The two men, Smollett initially said, shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him as a rope was wrapped around his neck and a chemical compound was poured on him. The alleged assailants yelled \"MAGA country,\" a reference to President Donald Trump's \"Make American Great Again\" slogan, police were told.

In an interview with \"Good Morning America\" anchor Robin Roberts, Smollett said he was heartbroken when he found out that people questioned his story.

Asked why he would leave the rope draped around his neck until police arrived because he \"wanted them to see.\"

\"PHOTO:
Chicago Police Dept.
PHOTO: Jussie Smollett is pictured in a police mugshot after being charged with making a false police report.
>

\"I was looking at myself, just like checking myself out,\" he told Roberts. \"I saw the bruise on my neck, you know, like the little -- the rope burn around my neck. So when the police came I kept the clothes on, I kept the rope on me. ... I mean, it wasn't, like, wrapped around. But, yeah, it was around because I wanted them to see.\"

Asked why he wait until the second interview to tell police that the assailants yelled “MAGA country” at him during the attack, Smollett seemed to take offense at the insinuation.

\"For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing,\" Smollett said on ABC News. \"I didn't need to add anything like that. They called me a f----, they called me a n----. There's no which way you cut it.\"

'Chicago trusted this young man'

Johnson said on Thursday that Smollett's seeming injuries from the incident also appeared to be phony.

“The brothers had on gloves during the staged attack where they -- they punched him a little bit, but as far as we can tell, the scratches and bruising that you saw on his face was most likely self-inflicted.\"

Police identified and questioned two \"persons of interest\" captured on surveillance video near the scene around the time of the alleged attack. The men, who are brothers, were arrested on Feb. 13 but then released without charges, with police saying they were no longer considered suspects.

While being questioned by investigators, the brothers claimed that Smollett paid them to help orchestrate and stage the crime after he became upset that a letter threatening him, sent Jan. 22 to the Fox studio where \"Empire\" is filmed, did not get enough attention, sources told ABC News.

On Wednesday, Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false crime report. By that evening, police officially had classified the actor as a suspect in the ongoing investigation. Detectives subsequently presented evidence to a Cook County grand jury.

\"That was a pretty hateful allegation, and it really put a terrible look on Chicago,\" Guglielmi told ABC Chicago station WLS in a telephone interview Thursday morning. \"Chicago trusted this young man. We loved 'Empire,' and we took this very seriously that something this hateful could happen in our city.\"

ABC News' Monica Escobedo, Andy Fies, Will Gretsky, Michael Rothman and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.

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