“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was assaulted on Tuesday in what police are calling a possible hate crime.
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“ Empire ” star Jussie Smollet was hospitalized in Chicago on Tuesday after suffering a brutal attack that authorities are investigating as a suspected hate crime.
The 35-year-old, who is black, Jewish and openly gay, was approached by two people shouting racist and homophobic slurs, police said. The duo struck the actor in the face, poured an “unknown chemical substance” on him and wrapped a rope around his neck, before fleeing the scene.
Smollet told police in a follow-up interview that the suspects screamed, “This is MAGA country,” referring to President Donald Trump’s contentious campaign slogan.
Lawmakers and celebrities alike swiftly took to social media to denounce the attack, with some Twitter users calling the event a new normal in Trump’s America. Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both described the violent act as an “attempted modern-day lynching,” while civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton called on President Trump to condemn the “MAGA attackers.”
“It ought to be denounced by even the president, the author and the main proselytizer of Make America Great,” Sharpton told TMZ on Tuesday. “His silence would be very, very deafening.”
The president has yet to publicly comment on the attack, but the number of hate crimes has steadily increased in recent years, according to the FBI’s most recent data.
