Singer Jussie Smollett — a star of TV’s “Empire,” seen performing this month in West Hollywood — reported he was attacked in a hate crime (Scott Dudelson)

Chicago (AFP) – Two “potential suspects” are being interrogated in the probe of a black, openly gay US television actor’s report that he was assaulted in a hate crime, police said Friday. 

Actor Jussie Smollett, of the television program “Empire,” reported the early morning incident to police on January 29. 

The 36-year-old said two men beat him while he was walking on the streets of downtown Chicago at around 2:00 am, and yelled racial and homophobic slurs. 

“They called me a faggot. They called me a nigger,” Smollett said in his first extensive interview broadcast by ABC on Thursday. 

He said the two had also poured bleach on him and tied a rope around his neck. 

A Chicago police spokesman on Friday said detectives were interrogating two people, accompanied by their attorney, for the second day.  

“The two individuals interviewed are classified as potential suspects,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told AFP in an emailed statement. 

“Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime.”

Police in late January released surveillance images of two men they considered persons of interest in the case. But they have found no video of the attack itself.  

Multiple US media outlets reported that detectives were investigating the possibility that the attack might have been staged. The New York Times said one of the detained people had appeared on “Empire.”  

But police said there is no evidence of a hoax.

“The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect,” Guglielmi said. 

The initial reports of the attack shocked the entertainment industry and brought waves of support from advocacy groups. 

Members of the “Empire” production team and cast, as well as the studio that produces the program, spoke out in support of the actor, as did the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. 

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