Jussie Smollett: Empire star may be suspended by Fox after allegedly faking own 'racist and homophobic' attack

Update: Jussie Smollett has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct by police in Chicago for allegedly faking his own purported attack.

Fox series Empire is looking to suspend Jussie Smollett after being charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly faking his own “racist and homophobic” attack, it’s been reported.

Sources close to the TV show’s production told Variety that producers are "considering suspending" the actor whose lawyers are talking to authorities about his arrest. He faces up to three years in jail if convicted.

Three weeks after the 36-year-old actor filed a police report saying he had been attacked in Chicago by two two masked men who hurled homophobic and racist abuse at him, police said Smollett was now being treated as a suspect rather than a victim.

The actor has been charged by Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives were now looking to arrest Smollett.

“Felony criminal charges have been approved by Cook County state’s attorney’s office against Jussie Smollett for disorderly conduct/filing a a false police report,” Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter. “Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.”

There was no immediate comment from Smollett’s lawyers, or his agent, over the charges statement. A spokesperson for an Empire producer on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television also declined to comment.

Fox had previously thrown its support over Smollett in the wake of news he might have orchestrated his own alleged attack. His status on the TV series Empire, in which he plays Jamal, is expected to change as a legal battle begins.

Smollett, who is black and came out as gay in 2015, made a tearful appearance on Good Morning America this month and said he had been “forever changed” by the alleged attack.

He said: “I will never be the man who this didn’t happen to.

“I am forever changed and I don’t subscribe to the idea that everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us, good and bad.”