Jussie Smollett’s neighbours say they don’t believe his story

Since then the police, who has been treating the incident as a hate crime, is yet to make any arrests as most of the surveillance footages obtained from cameras around the scene have failed to capture the actual incident. This has caused neighbours of the actor to question if the incident as reported by him actually happened.

Smollett had alleged that he was confronted by two men, one wearing a black mask, who called him “Empire f—-t nr” while he was walking home shortly before 2 a.m., hurling gay and racist epithets at him.

But a resident within the neighbourhood, Agin Muhammad, reportedly tells Page Six that he doubted the actor’s claims. “I don’t believe it happened the way he said it did, I’ve been in this neighbourhood five years,” he says. “I don’t believe it, not around here . . . Half the people are gay and the other half are black.”

Also, a customer at Lizzie McNeill’s Irish Pub, which is about a block from the scene of the alleged attack said Smollett’s story “doesn’t really make sense.”

“It’s a lie because Chicago is the most liberal city around,” said the man, who wouldn’t give his name. “They have cameras everywhere. . . Why can’t they find the attack?”

Meanwhile, the actor has refused to turn in his phone to Chicago police who want data from it to verify that he was on the phone with his music manager, Brandon Moore, when he was allegedly attacked.

Moore recalled he heard Smollett’s assailants shout a “racial slur” and the words “MAGA country,” an apparent reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“We have no reason to doubt the statements but for a criminal investigation we need to independently confirm the phone records,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

“We offered to take the phone to download the data and he expressed he couldn’t be without his phone for several hours.”

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has said that Smollett, 36, was being treated as a crime victim, but would be held accountable if cops learn he filed a false report.