Two Men Arrested In Smollett Case Released With No Charges

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) said Friday night the two men arrested for suspicion of being involved in 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 comes after two Nigerian brothers were arrested for suspicion of assault and battery.

CPD had confirmed Friday that the individuals arrested were black men, according to The Associated Press. One of the men had worked for the show.

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 Make America Great Again (MAGA) 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 around, The AP reported.