{"id":117198,"date":"2019-02-22T07:21:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T11:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=117198"},"modified":"2019-02-22T07:21:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T11:21:21","slug":"remember-when-crisis-actor-jussie-smollett-hired-a-crisis-management-team-after-refusing-to-meet-with-the-chicago-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=117198","title":{"rendered":"Remember when crisis actor Jussie Smollett hired a crisis management team after refusing to meet with the Chicago police"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Jussie Smollett Refuses to Meet Chicago Police, Hires Crisis Management Firm<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><div id=\"attachment_117199\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smollettwontalk1-640x480.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-117199\" class=\"size-full wp-image-117199\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smollettwontalk1-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smollettwontalk1-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smollettwontalk1-640x480-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-117199\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Kotinsky\/Getty Images for Pepsi<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3><em>Empire<\/em>\u00a0actor Jussie Smollett is refusing to be questioned by the\u00a0Chicago Police Department and has hired the services of a crisis management firm amid reports he staged an attack on himself last month.<\/h3>\n<p>by Joshua Caplan<br \/>\nBreitbart.com<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no plans for Jussie Smollett to meet with Chicago police today,\u201d Anna Kavanagh, a crisis manager at\u00a0MediaPros24\/7\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobElgasABC7\/status\/1097541522688487429\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">said<\/a>\u00a0in a statement Monday. \u201cAny news reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate. Smollett\u2019s attorneys will keep an active dialogue going with Chicago police on his behalf.\u00a0We have no further comment today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chicago police on Sunday said they requested\u00a0a follow-up interview with Smollett due to \u201cnew evidence\u201d they obtained that \u201cshifted\u201d their investigation into the 36-year-old\u2019s alleged assault on January 29.\u00a0Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi would not comment on reports that Smollett orchestrated the attack and that a grand jury could hear the evidence.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re not confirming, denying or commenting on anything until we can talk to him and we can corroborate some information that we\u2019ve gotten,\u201d\u00a0Guglielmi\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.apnews.com\/fe9c70e1cc324228838728c6806abae2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"powr_1\" class=\"a8d padok\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"powr_embed\" src=\"https:\/\/player.powr.com\/iframe.html?account=100010177&amp;player=743&amp;domain=breitbart.com&amp;terms=jussie%20smollett%20police%20crisis%20firm%20refuses%20meet%20chicago&amp;uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fentertainment%2F2019%2F02%2F18%2Fjussie-smollett-refuses-to-meet-chicago-police-hires-crisis-management-firm%2F&amp;c=1550834316781\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Smollett, who is gay and black,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2019\/02\/16\/report-chicago-police-believe-jussie-smollett-paid-two-men-to-stage-attack\/\">told<\/a>\u00a0police that two masked men hurled racist and anti-gay slurs at him and doused him with an unknown chemical substance as he walked home from a sandwich\u00a0shop at around 2:00 a.m. local time. The actor said his assailants placed a thin rope around his neck and shouted \u201cThis is MAGA country!\u201d before running away.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to ABC News, attorneys for Smollett said their client was \u201cangered\u201d and \u201cfurther victimized\u201d by accusations that orchestrated the alleged assault.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,\u201d Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, Smollett\u2019s lawyers,\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/information-jussie-smollett-investigation-change-story-police\/story?id=61117628&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">told<\/a>\u00a0ABC News.\u00a0\u201cHe has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of these purported suspects was Jussie\u2019s personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video,\u201d they\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/information-jussie-smollett-investigation-change-story-police\/story?id=61117628&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">continued<\/a>. \u201cIt is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussie\u2019s complicity.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago police on Wednesday picked up\u00a0Abimbola \u201cAbel\u201d and Olabinjo \u201cOla\u201d Osundairo\u00a0\u2014 the Nigerian brothers who are now suspected of having Smollett carried out the alleged staged attack\u00a0\u2014 from O\u2019Hare International Airport to question them about their possible involvement.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Fox 32 Chicago\u2019s Rafer Weigel, citing several police sources,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2019\/02\/16\/report-chicago-police-believe-jussie-smollett-paid-two-men-to-stage-attack\/\">reported<\/a>\u00a0the pair purchased the rope found around the actor\u2019s neck the night of the alleged attack at a local store. CBS Chicago\u2019s Charlie De Mar reports at least one of the brothers purchased the rope at Craft Beaver hardware store the weekend of January 25th. The rope was bought at the\u00a0direction of Smollett, De Mar,\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlieDeMar\/status\/1096936997330010112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">added<\/a>.\u00a0Further, the brothers were\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlieDeMar\/status\/1096942749297926144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">compensated<\/a>\u00a0$3,500 and promised an another $500 later, according to De Mar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Smollett could\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2019\/02\/16\/jussie-smollett-could-get-up-to-three-years-in-jail-for-filing-false-police-report\/\">receive<\/a>\u00a0up to three years in prison if he is found to have filed a false report with the Chicago Police regarding his alleged attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2019\/02\/18\/jussie-smollett-refuses-to-meet-chicago-police-hires-crisis-management-firm\/\">https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/entertainment\/2019\/02\/18\/jussie-smollett-refuses-to-meet-chicago-police-hires-crisis-management-firm\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jussie Smollett Refuses to Meet Chicago Police, Hires Crisis Management Firm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}