*Jussie Smollett is facing disorderly conduct charges for filing a false police report after claiming two masked, MAGA-loving white males hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him and wrapped a noose around his neck last month in Chicago.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says Smollett “still has the presumption of innocence and he still has his opportunity in court if he chooses to go that route.”
But as he noted on “Good Morning America” on Monday, “there’s a lot more evidence that hasn’t been presented yet that doesn’t support the version that he gave us,” Johnson told host Robin Roberts. “There’s still a lot of video evidence, physical evidence and testimony that doesn’t support what he said happened.”
OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: Jussie Smollett, Terry Crews and the Celebrity Misuse of Black Struggle (WATCH)
After a thorough investigation, that is currently ongoing, Johnson says detectives considered Smollett a victim up until they detained and questions the two Nigerian-American brothers who are allegedly connection to the case.
“I refused to characterize Jussie Smollett as a suspect unless we had concrete evidence,” Johnson said. “The 47th hour that we had those two individuals in custody is when it changed.”
He added, “We worked very closely with their lawyer, and (she) went in there to talk to them, and whatever she said to them apparently got through to them – to just tell the truth about what happened,” Johnson said. “And that’s what they decided to do.”
Johnson’s interview with Roberts comes a week after Jussie sat down with her and gave his version of what went down on the night of his alleged attack.
“The entire time that we investigated the incident he was treated like a victim,” Johnson told Roberts on Monday morning. But the admits that the evidence soon became overwhelming. When Smollett allegedly filed a false report is when Johnson decided to publicly refute his story.
FULL @ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Chicago police Superintendent speaks with @RobinRoberts about the Jussie Smollett investigation. https://t.co/G4P92ohuFL pic.twitter.com/QnpgfJ4FQh
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 25, 2019
On Thursday, Chicago police held a press conference in which they alleged Smollett paid the two brothers $3,500 to stage a “bogus” attack against him as part of an elaborate PR stunt because he was dissatisfied with his “Empire.” salary.
Johnson’s GMA interview came days after “Empire” executive producers announced that Jussie’s character will be removed from the final two episodes of season 5.
Smollett was arrested last Thursday morning after turning himself in to police. He was released after posting $10,000 bond and ordered to surrender his passport. His next hearing is scheduled for March 14.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
