{"id":5522,"date":"2020-07-12T13:30:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T13:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=5522"},"modified":"2020-07-12T13:30:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T13:30:13","slug":"jussie-smollett-star-of-empire-has-noose-put-around-neck-in-suspected-hate-crime-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=5522","title":{"rendered":"Jussie Smollett, star of Empire, has noose put around neck in suspected hate crime attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A gay black TV star was attacked and had a rope put around his neck by two white attackers who reportedly shouted &quot;This is MAGA country&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Jussie Smollett, 35, who stars in the series &quot;Empire,&quot; was treated in hospital following the assault in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>He was attacked by two men in ski masks who yelled racist and homophobic abuse, TMZ, the celebrity news website reported.<\/p>\n<p>The attackers made reference to MAGA &#8211; Donald Trump&#8217;s Make America Great Again slogan &#8211; the website reported.<\/p>\n<p>A Chicago police spokesman said: &quot;We received a report of a possible racially charged assault and battery involving a cast member of the television show Empire.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Given the severity of the allegations, we are taking this investigation very seriously and treating it as a possible hate crime.&quot;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<noscript><\/noscript><figcaption>\nJussie Smollett at a Fox Networks Group event last yearCredit:<br \/>\nAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The spokesman added: &quot;The offenders began to batter the victim with their hands about the face and poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;At some point during the incident, one of the offenders wrapped a rope around the victim&#8217;s neck. The offenders fled the scene.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The chemical substance was bleach, and Smollett was later released from hospital, TMZ reported.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett plays Jamal Lyon, the gay son of a music mogul, in the popular series about an entertainment company, which is filmed in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>The attack happened at 2am after he had arrived on a late flight from New York and gone for something to eat.<\/p>\n<p>The show&#8217;s co-creator Lee Daniels said the incident was &quot;just another f****** day in America&quot; and urged the nation to improve.<\/p>\n<p>In a video on Instagram, an emotional Daniels said: &quot;It&#8217;s taken me a minute to come to social media about this because Jussie you are my son.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;You didn&#8217;t deserve, nor does anybody deserve, to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach thrown on you, to be called &#8216;die f*****, n*****&#8217; or whatever they said to you.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;You are better than that. We are better than that. America is better than that.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It starts at home. We have to love each other regardless of what sexual orientation we are.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;No racist f*** can come in and do the things that they did to you.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Hold your head up, Jussie, I&#8217;m with you, I&#8217;ll be there in a minute. It&#8217;s just another f****** day in America.&quot;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OMG!! THIS is why the LGBTQ community continue to fight to be seen and PROTECTED against hate!<\/p>\n<p>We ALL have to take this racist and homophobic act of violence very personally! My arms are around you @jussiesmollett. You are loved! https:\/\/t.co\/bprDZ3Luah<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Viola Davis (@violadavis) January 29, 2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In a statement 20th Century Fox Television, which produces Empire, said: &quot;We are deeply saddened and outraged to learn that a member of our Empire family, Jussie Smollett, was viciously attacked last night.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We send our love to Jussie, who is resilient and strong, and we will work with law enforcement to bring these perpetrators to justice.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman added: &quot;The entire studio, network and production stands united in the face of any despicable act of violence and hate, and especially against one of our own.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The FBI was already investigating a threatening letter sent to the actor a week ago, TMZ reported.<\/p>\n<p>Ariana Grande was among a host of celebrities to offer support.<\/p>\n<p>Grande said the incident left her &quot;sick to my stomach&quot; and sent, &quot;all of the healing energy \/ love i possibly can and hoping for change&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Grande added: &quot;What can we do ? tell me &amp; i&#8217;m there.&quot;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sending prayers your way @jussiesmollett &#8230;.This is unbelievably sad. Why are we going backwards&#8230;.this is disgusting. We as people have to do better. WTF is going on the world???? Why\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/G6vCnKPEhf<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) January 30, 2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Actress Olivia Munn wrote on Twitter the attack was, &quot;why we have to have zero tolerance against homophobia and racism. Jussie&#8217;s life matters&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Alyssa Milano said she was struggling to put her feelings into a &quot;neat &amp; tidy tweet&quot;, adding, &quot;Living together on the planet shouldn&#8217;t be this difficult&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Michael B Jordan wrote on Instagram: &quot;Stand with my brother @jussiesmollett sending you light and love. Be strong We got you.&quot;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A gay black TV star was attacked and had a rope put around his neck by two white attackers who reportedly shouted &quot;This is MAGA country&quot;. Jussie Smollett, 35, who stars in the series &quot;Empire,&quot; was treated in hospital following the assault in Chicago. He was attacked by two men in ski masks who yelled&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}