Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Jewish Actor Hospitalized After Anti-Gay, Racist Attack: ‘This Is MAGA Country’

Actor Jussie Smollett is in the hospital after being brutally attacked in Chicago in what police are treating as a likely hate crime. The 35-year-old star of the hit show “Empire” was reportedly approached by two people who yelled racist and homophobic slurs, then physically beat him and poured an “unknown chemical substance” onto him, according to a report by the Chicago police.

“At some point during the incident, one of the offenders wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck,” the report continues. The attackers fled, and the “possible racially-charged assault” is under investigation by the Area Central Detectives. Smollett was able to take himself to the hospital; police report that he is in “good condition.”

The charismatic young actor and singer has been open about his gay identity and is an outspoken champion of LGBT and black rights. His father, an Ashkenazi Jew, died just before Smollett’s rise to fame.

“I don’t believe that we were created to hate,” he told Out Magazine in 2016, adding that executives behind “Empire” have asked him to cool it with public statements about violence against black Americans. “I believe that we were created only to love,” he added. “Love is the root of the happiest of times and of wars. Love, or lack of love — but love is the root of everything.”

TMZ reports that Smollett’s attackers yelled “This is MAGA country,” and called the actor “That f***ot ‘Empire’ n*****” before pouring bleach on him and putting him in the noose.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.