The actor "Empire" says that the story of his attack was constant

CHICAGO (AP) – Actor "Empire" Jussie Smollett said Friday that he was "consistent at all levels" with the police during his investigation into what he termed "bombing racist and homophobic "in downtown Chicago earlier this week.

In his first public comments since he said two masked men attacked him Tuesday morning in an investigation into a possible hate crime, the black and openly gay actor disputed contested badertions about social media that he would have been less cooperative and changed his story.

"I work with the authorities and I am 100% factual and consistent at all levels," he said in a statement released by an intermediary a day after his family issued a similar statement. "Despite my frustrations and deep concern about some inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be done."

Smollett, 36, told the police that two masked men had attacked him on a Streeterville street street while he was walking home from a restaurant. He stated that they had hit him, instigated racist and homophobic abuses, poured him an unknown chemical and put a rope around his neck.

This downtown Chicago area has many hotels and restaurants and extensive video surveillance coverage. Although the police found images of Smollett going home, a video shows that he arrives in his building with a rope around his neck. images of the attack or men corresponding to his description of his attackers.

In his statement, Smollett expressed his gratitude for "the outpouring of love and support" that he has received since the attack – even the president weighed heavily on Thursday, l 39; calling "horrible". Critics have also relied on social media to suggest that Smollett has changed his position. account of what happened and did not fully cooperate with the investigators, noting what the police said was Smollett's refusal to let the detectives check his phone records to verify that he had telephoned his manager at moment of his attack.

Eddie Johnson, head of the police department, said during an appearance on WLS-TV that even though the detectives had not found video of the attack, Smollett was "very cooperative and we have no reason to think that it is not genuine with us. "

Even though detectives are collecting and sifting through images from the many public and private surveillance cameras located near the site where Smollett said he was attacked, Johnson said it would not be unusual for one such an attack is not filmed.

Although Chicago has an extensive network of cameras, it does not provide full coverage, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Some cameras rotate and do not continuously capture images from the same locations. It is therefore very likely that the detectives do not find the Smollett sequence attacked, he said.

Guglielmi said he is optimistic that investigators will identify and locate two people they want to talk to because grainy images show that they were in the area around the time Smollett claims to have been attack.

"Somewhere, there is a camera that shows them that they are arriving somewhere where they drove, walked or taken the bus," he said, pointing out that both are not considered as suspects and that investigators want to talk to them in the hope that they might have useful information.

Smollett, who plays gay character Jamal Lyon on the TV show Fox, is also a musician and activist primarily focused on LGBTQ issues. Rights groups have scheduled a rally on Friday night in New York to support Smollett and LGBTQ survivors of violence.