By Nicholas Hautman—

Jussie Smollett was arrested on Thursday, February 21, for filing a false police report after claiming he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack, Us Weekly confirms.Jussie Smollett Alleged Attack: Everything We Know

The Empire star, 36, was taken into custody just hours after he was charged with felony disorderly conduct, an offense that could bring one to three years in prison.

Smollett claimed to police on January 29 that he was physically attacked by two men at approximately 2 a.m. after picking up food at a Subway restaurant in downtown Chicago. He reported that the assailants yelled racist and homophobic slurs before pouring an unknown chemical substance on him and wrapping a rope around his neck. Smollett had received a threatening letter days before the alleged attack.

The actor, who is openly gay, spoke out publicly on February 1 for the first time since the incident and assured fans that he was OK. “I need a moment to process,” he said in a statement to Essence, adding that he believed “justice will be served.”

SDuring a sit-down interview with Robin Roberts on the February 14 episode of Good Morning America, Smollett spoke more extensively about what police initially described as a “possible hate crime.” He explained that he was talking to his manager on the phone when the alleged attack occurred, but he decided against turning over his cellphone records to investigators because he had “private pictures and videos and numbers.”

The singer’s side of the story was met with some skepticism on social media, which heightened when ABC 7 Chicago reported later on February 14 that he staged the attack over fears about the future of his Empire character, Jamal Lyon. However, a Chicago police spokesman called the report “uninformed and inaccurate” at the time, and the Fox musical drama’s producers insisted they continued “to stand behind” Smollett.

More hoax reports surfaced on Saturday, February 16, after authorities arrested two potential suspects, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, but released them hours later without charges. The Nigerian brothers reportedly told investigators that Smollett paid them to orchestrate the attack. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi later confirmed to Us that the “information received from the individuals questioned by police … has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.” Guglielmi then announced on Wednesday, February 20, that Smollett had been officially “classified as a suspect” in the investigation and was subsequently charged with a felony.

Smollett has repeatedly asserted that he is a victim and said, via his attorney, that he is “angered and devastated” by the hoax speculation. His legal team has vowed to “conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Smollett’s rep for comment.

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