Anonymous police sources cited by CBS Chicago are claiming that Jussie Smollett staged the hoax attack he reported to police because a threatening letter he claimed to receive a week earlier did not receive enough attention.
The new alleged motive emerged on Monday as investigators pushed on with their probe into the murky January 29 incident which has divided many and prompted fierce debate over race, police integrity, homophobia and politics.
It tosses up more questions including whether or not the letter, that Smollett received on January 22 and spoke about during an interview with Good Morning America, was real and how it became public knowledge.
It is not clear if the police sources are referring to Smollett not getting enough attention from Fox or in the media.
Jussie Smollett is pictured during his Good Morning America interview on Thursday where he described the threatening letter he received a week before being allegedly attacked
This is the letter Smollett allegedly received at the Fox studio, a week before the January 29 incident
There was no mention of the letter in the public domain until after the January 29 attack had been reported.
A photograph of it popped up on That Grape Juice Net, which describes itself as a source of 'urban music and entertainment news', on January 30.
It included a powdery substance which police investigated and ruled was aspirin or Tylenol. On it were the words 'You will die black f*g', spelled out in cut and pasted magazine letters, and MAGA which was scrawled in red pen.
There was also a stick figure drawing of a man with a gun pointed at his head.
Smollett never tweeted about it nor did he share a photograph of it on Instagram. He did confirm receiving it during his interview with GMA last week where he condemned the skepticism surrounding his account of the attack and referred to the letter, saying: 'Did I make that up too?'
It was previously claimed by other unnamed police sources cited by CBS and ABC Chicago that he was fearful he was going to be written out of Empire and that he wanted to drum up publicity to save his career.
Both Fox
