Jussie Smollett arrested over false attack report

US actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested in Chicago after being charged with filing a false police report.

The Empire star had said he was subjected to a homophobic and racist physical attack by two men in January.

Doubt was later cast on his account after US media reported that police believed he may have paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack.

The actor is in custody of Chicago police, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says.

The 36-year-old actor, who is gay, said he had gone out to buy food late at night when two white men hurled racial and homophobic insults at him, punched him, poured a chemical substance over him and put a rope around his neck.

“This is Maga country,” he said they had told him, referring to President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.

The actor said he had been “forever changed” by the incident.

Source: BBC