Jussie Smollett, a black, openly gay actor best known for his work in Fox's "Empire," was assaulted in Chicago by two people carrying a noose and an unidentified "chemical substance" in what police are calling a "possible racially-charged assault and battery."
Smollett, 35, was walking on the 300th block of E. North Lower Water Street around 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday, "when two unknown offenders approached him and gained his attention by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs towards him," the Chicago Police Department said in a statement to The Washington Post. "The offenders began to batter the victim with their hands about the face and poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim.