Chicago Cops Drop Graphic Jussie Smollett Video Showing Scene In ‘Empire’ Star’s Pad After Alleged Attack + More

WARNING: This post contains video that may upset or offend.

The endless drip of information from Jussie Smollett’s unsealed criminal case file took a harsh turn Monday with new video dropped by the Chicago Police department.

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Among the nearly 70 hours of footage, one particular jarring video stands out of the scene inside’s the Empire star’s upscale Windy City apartment soon after the alleged “hate crime” attack against the actor in the early morning of January 29.

As shown in a Twitter post below by a reporter from ABC’s Chicago affiliate, Smollet is depicted on the CPD body cam with the rope used in the now disputed assault still around his neck.

One officer tugs on the rope and asks Smollett why he is wearing it.

“Wanna take it off?” the cop asks, with Smollett replying that the people who attacked put it on him and he wanted the police to see it before he removed it. Soon afterwards, a member of Smollett’s management team requests that the body cam be turned off, as it is.

Watch:

The tactically released video comes just days after a state judge recommended that a special prosecutor be appointed in the Smollett case, which saw all charges against the actor disappear in a D.A. deal in late March. The Chicago Police had promised on May 30 that “pertinent video files” would be made public sooner or later.

After the actor initially attracted widespread sympathy for being subjected to a racial and homophobic attack, Cook County prosecutors eventually charged Smollett with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report. The actor maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty. In a seemingly sudden move March 26, the state’s attorney’s office dropped the charges and sealed the case after Smollett agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bail and perform community service.

In the closing days of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s regime, the city sued Smollett in civil court to recover more than $130,000 it allegedly spent in police overtime hours investigating the case. That case is still ongoing, as is a defamation lawsuit against some of Smollett’s legal team by brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, whom Chicago police said were paid by the actor to plan and coordinate the alleged fake assault on that cold Chicago early morning in January.

Another video the CPD released today shows the O’Hare arrest of Abel Osundairo as he returned from a trip to Nigeria earlier this year.

After hours in police interview rooms, the siblings changed their story at the last minute and pointed the finger at Smollett as the true perpetrator.

If a special prosecutor is named, Smollett could find himself back in court all over again. If and when that happens, that actor who played Jamal Lyon on the Fox series won’t have to worry about his filming schedule getting in the way. Smollett was written out of the final two episodes of the fifth season of the Fox drama series created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong when the legal winds began to blow against him.

With the announcement of Empire‘s sixth and final season, Fox execs said that they had “no plans” to bring Smollett back.

Daniels himself hit that drum even harder with a June 4 declaration that Smollett “will not be returning” to the show after false reports emerged that there were plans in the Brett Mahoney-led writers room to bring him back for the back end of Season 6.

Which means this might be the only time we see Jussie Smollett on camera in the near future.

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