In case you were wondering if Empire actor and singer Jussie Smollett is a Trump supporter, the answer is a strong no. Something that caught my attention during the whole drama over his alleged attack by red hat-wearing, MAGA yelling attackers is that he deleted a strongly worded tweet to President Trump from his Twitter feed as this story gained steam in the press. Why did our brave victim do that? I haven’t seen any reference to the tweet in any of the reporting of the story.

The tweet called Trump a ‘nigga’ and that was pretty much the only thing that set it apart from any other Trump deranged tweet from a Hollywood celebrity. Having seen that tweet, I was skeptical of his story about the alleged attack from the start. I just couldn’t figure out why he would do it. Here’s one tweet that is still up and it refers to Trump supporters as “white-hooded cohorts” and clowns. Of course, he’s speaking in support of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

.@AOC is only speaking facts. This is so far beyond political party affiliation. Across the world…no matter the border…from sea to shining sea…45 and all his white hooded cohorts are a national disgrace. And if you support them…so are you. Clowns. pic.twitter.com/Qz4uIjF7xa

— Jussie Smollett (@JussieSmollett) January 20, 2019

The news today is that the two Nigerian men brought in for questioning by Chicago police have now been released. The police released them “due to new evidence.”

Case Update: Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete. pic.twitter.com/Hswn1Qjgcy

— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 16, 2019

In a bit of irony, it is being reported that Smollett has hired a lawyer who represented convicted felon and former Trump fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen. Small world, huh?

The release of Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo at near 9 PM Chicago time surely means that whatever that “new evidence” is, it is a clear game changer for the ever twisting and turning Empire star case.

Adding to that, attorney Michael Monico has been now been retained by Smollett.

The Chicago-based defense lawyer is a frequent go-to-guy for high profile cases. In the past year he represented Donald Trump’s ex-right hand man Michael Cohen in his dealings with Robert Mueller’s investigation and other related federal cases. Having seemingly spilled the beans to the ex-FBI Director to some extent or another on his lying to Congress and more, Cohen is set to start a three-year prison sentence next month.

Looks like attorney Monico is experienced with clients telling tall tales. I wonder what beans the Nigerians spilled to warrant their release without being charged with anything. Due to yesterday’s tragic mass shooting in nearby Aurora, CPD canceled a press conference to update on the story.

We will eventually get the full story, I assume, but meanwhile, it is puzzling why this guy would put himself in this public relations mess. I didn’t understand why a celebrity would be walking alone down a deserted Chicago street at 2:00 A.M. during a polar vortex to get a sandwich at a nearby Subway. Magically, two men appeared and jumped him on his return walk back to his apartment. They just happened to have bleach and a noose on them. None of it made sense from the beginning. Allegedly, one of the Nigerian men has worked on the Empire show.

The two men — whom police have identified only as Nigerian brothers — were picked up at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday and taken into custody after returning from Nigeria after police learned that at least one of the men worked on “Empire,” according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He said he did not know what the man’s job was on the television drama.

Guglielmi’s comments followed a furious 24 hours that included local media reports that the attack was a hoax. Police say those reports are unconfirmed. Producers of the television drama also disputed media reports that Smollett’s character, Jamal Lyon, was being written off the show, calling the idea “patently ridiculous.”

I watch Empire and Smollett does a good job with the character he plays. I hadn’t read rumors that his character was being written out of the show. As I said, I was skeptical from the beginning. He’s openly gay so maybe it was a date or social arrangement gone bad. The kidnapping speculation about the Nigerians didn’t make sense to me, either. Smollett claimed during an interview on an early morning show this week that the men in the video released by police looked like the men who attacked him, though in the video they were covered up with heavy coats and their faces weren’t clearly seen. This story has hoax written all over it, if you ask me. He’s politically active (especially during Obama’s administration) and this seems to be a slap at Trump supporters that backfired.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and it is prevalent among the Hollywood crowd. It seems to me that a better way to criticize President Trump would be to take him on over policy rather than to go after his supporters. Perhaps the actor should put down the scripts written for him and pick up a policy paper or two. In real life, a bogus story by a high profile actor will be a story that lingers.