A visibly angry Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said Smollett had taken advantage of the pain and anger of racism, draining resources that could have been used to investigate other crimes for which people were actually suffering.
“I just wish that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention,” he said at a news conference in Chicago.
The superintendent seemed particularly upset by the fact that Smollett, he said, had arranged a fake assault that featured a noose hung around his neck. Police say the staged assault was carried out by two brothers to whom the actor had paid $3,500.
“Why would anyone — especially an African-American man — use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?” he asked.
A representative for Smollett did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. The actor has maintained that he did not do anything wrong.
The attack was reported to have occurred on Jan. 29. Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told police that at roughly 2 a.m., two masked men attacked him in downtown Chicago. He said his assailants directed homophobic and racial slurs at him, put a rope around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him.
Smollett also told police that as the attack occurred, he was on the phone with his manager, Brandon Z. Moore, who later corroborated the phone call to Variety. The actor was initially hesitant to inform police because of his high-profile status, according to law enforcement. It was his friend, choreographer Frank Gatson, who initially made the call.
But a team of investigators, looking at the case as a possible hate crime, could not find evidence to match Smollett’s story. The attack was not visible on surveillance cameras and there were no witnesses.
On Feb. 13, police detained Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, two brothers and associates of Smollett’s, believing them to be the men in the images. Their home was raided by law enforcement. Through their lawyer, the brothers initially said they didn’t know why they were of interest to police. But the brothers told police that they had been paid by Smollett to stage the attack, and detectives released them without charges.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.