Jussie Smollett , 36, has alleged that two men assaulted him in late January, shouting racist and homophobic slurs and tying a rope around his neck. Smollett is black and gay, and plays an LGBT character on the Fox series.
Over the weeks, cracks in the story have started to emerge, and Chicago police have reportedly begun looking into whether Smollett paid off two men to assault him in an elaborate hoax.
Here's what has happened so far in the rapidly moving case.
January 22: An anonymous letter reportedly arrives at the "Empire" set, addressed to Smollett and using letters clipped from magazines to spell out, "You will die black f-g." The letter lists "MAGA" as the return address.
January 29: Smolletts manager calls Chicago police at 2:42 a.m. to report an attack on Smollett that they said occurred roughly 40 minutes earlier.
Gary Gershoff/WireImage via Getty Images
When officers arrive at Smollett's apartment, they find him with a " thin, light rope " still around his neck. Smollett tells the officers the men attacked him as he was walking back to an apartment from a Subway restaurant.
He alleges they yelled racist slurs, hit him in the face, poured an unknown chemical substance on him, and tied the rope around his neck.
January 29: Later that morning in a follow-up interview, Smollett told officers the men also yelled "This is MAGA country" after the attack. Chicago police said they are investigating the attack as a hate crime, and that Smollett is "fully cooperating."
January 30: Chicago police release images showing two "people of interest" who were in the area of the alleged assault, and said no videos captured the full incident.
Chicago Police Department via Reuters
January 30: Skepticism of Smolletts account starts to take root almost immediately after the alleged attack, particularly on the right.
Conservative writers and commentators weighed in , noting that the incident took place on one of the coldest nights of the year amid a polar vortex, and no surveillance footage captured the assault.
January 31: Amid growing outcry over the alleged attack, President Donald Trump weighs in on the news from the Oval Office. He said the attack is "horrible" and that "it doesnt get any worse, as far as Im concerned."
Associated Press/Jacquelyn Martin
Source: White House pool report
February 1: Smollett makes his first public comments about the attack, telling Essence in a statement, "Im OK" and that "my body is strong but my soul is stronger." He thanks his supporters for "the outpouring of love."
February 2: Smollett makes his first appearance at the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood and addresses the incident to a crowd of hundreds of fans.
"The most important thing I have to say is thank you so much and that I'm okay. I'm not fully healed yet, but I'm going to be and I'm gonna stand strong with y'all," he said.
Smollett also addressed the skepticism that had already begun to take hold on social media, and said he wanted to clarify some of the misconceptions.
"I was bruised but my ribs were not cracked; they were not broken. I went to the doctor immediately," he said. "I was not hospitalized. Both my doctors in LA and Chicago cleared me to perform, but said to take care, obviously. And above all: I fought the f--- back."
February 11: After investigators request Smolletts phone records, Smollett turns in "limited and heavily redacted" records that "do not meet the burden for a criminal investigation," the Chicago police department said.
February 12: Chicago police tell INSIDER theyre not considering charging Smollett with making a false report.
"Why would we charge a victim of a crime with a crime? That makes no sense," Michael Carroll, an officer working in the Chicago Police Department communications office, told INSIDER reporter Jacob Shamsian . "He is a victim of a crime that doesn't belong in our city."
He added: "False report charges, huh? We said multiple times, he is still considered a victim."
Carroll said Smollett gave them his phone records in a PDF with redactions, which don't meet the standards of evidence the police department requires. He said the department is seeking the phone records in the original format.
"It's not that we're saying he's lying, or changed them," Carroll said. "We need to be able to have our detective to go to a judge and say under oath they were verified. ... In the end, if we charge someone, they have to be found guilty without a reasonable doubt."
February 13: Chicago police arrest two men in connection with the alleged attack. They are later identified though media reports as Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo two Americans with connections to Smollett and to "Empire."
February 14: Smollett appears on "Good Morning America" in an emotional interview. He tears up as he discusses the growing skepticism around his allegations. "Its not necessarily that you dont believe that this is the truth," he said. "You dont even want to see the truth."
February 14-present: Donald Trump Jr., the presidents eldest son, is a high-profile example of the right-wing voices discrediting Smolletts story, and blaming the media for publicizing it.
February 14: Chicago police identify the two men arrested the previous day as "two Nigerian brothers," and clarify that they are not yet considered suspects. The department said the officers picked up the brothers at Chicagos OHare international airport the previous day after they returned from a trip to Nigeria.
The men's lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, said in a statement the men are "baffled" that police linked them to the alleged attack and said they're not guilty.
"They send their best to Jussie," she added.
Meanwhile, police deny media reports suggesting the attack was a hoax, painting the reports as inaccurate.
February 15: Chicago police release the men without charges, and said detectives have "additional investigative work to complete."
February 16: Local and national news outlets, citing anonymous sources, report that detectives are now investigating whether Smollett paid the two brothers to stage the attack.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told INSIDER "there are some new developments in the investigation and we are now interested in speaking to the 'Empire' cast member again."
Smollett's lawyers release a statement denying reports that he staged the attack and affirming that Smollett is the victim of a hate crime.
That same day, sources told CBS Chicago that the two brothers who were detained by Chicago police were seen on surveillance video at the Crafty Beaver hardware store on January 25, just days before the alleged attack.
The two men reportedly told investigators that they bought some rope at the store at Smollett's direction, and they bought a red hat at the Uptown beauty supply store.
February 19: Reports reveal that the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating whether Smollett participated in sending the threatening letter he received on January 22.
The two brothers told investigators that Smollett had sent the letter to himself, and that they helped him plan the staged attack after he grew upset that news of the threatening letter didn't get enough attention, ABC News and CBS News report , citing federal officials and other sources.
February 19: Media outlets unearth 2007 court records showing that Smollett previously pleaded no contest to giving false information to police officers.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
According to a misdemeanor complaint filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by the Associated Press , Smollett identified himself as his young brother, Jake Smollett, when a police officer pulled him over on suspicion of driving under the influence in 2007.
Smollett pleaded no contest to giving false information, driving under the influence, and driving without a valid license. He also completed an alcohol education and treatment program, the records show.
February 19: The Cook County states attorney Kim Foxx announces she is recusing herself from the investigation.
Associated Press/Teresa Crawford
"Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case," Foxx's spokeswoman said in a statement to The Chicago Tribune .
There are no further details on which witnesses the statement refers to, or how Foxx is familiar with them.
February 20: In a statement, Fox denies reports that Smollett is being written out of "Empire."
Invision/Willy Sanjuan via Associated Press
"Jussie Smollett continues to be a consummate professional on set and as we have previously stated, he is not being written out of the show,"20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment said in a statement to INSIDER.
