Police investigate suspected hate crime on US actor

Images of two "people of interest" have been released by police investigating a suspected hate attack on a US actor.

Releasing the two images, Chicago police said surveillance video of the attack has not yet been found, but that more cameras are being reviewed.

The suspects are reported to have shouted "racial and homophobic slurs" and Jussie says they referenced MAGA - the slogan Make America Great Again.

Jussie Smollett’s family have said the attack on the black and gay Empire actor in downtown Chicago this week was a “hate crime”.

Smollett, who plays the gay character Jamal Lyon on the hit Fox television show, hasn’t spoken publicly about the early Tuesday attack, though his representative said Wednesday that Smollett was recovering at home.

Smollett’s family issued a statement through a spokesman Thursday saying they believe he was the victim of an unprovoked “racial and homophobic hate crime” and that he has been forthright with the police.

“Jussie has told the police everything from the very beginning. His story has never changed, and we are hopeful they will find these men and bring them to justice,” the family said.

Detectives have recovered more surveillance footage of Smollett walking home from a Subway restaurant that morning, including video of him arriving at his apartment building with a rope around his neck, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Smollett told police that two masked men jumped him on his walk home at around 2 am Tuesday. He said they punched him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an “unknown chemical substance” on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing.

Donald Trump expressed sympathy for Smollett on Thursday.

Chicago has one of the nation’s most sophisticated and extensive video surveillance systems, including thousands of cameras on street poles, skyscrapers, buses and in train tunnels.