Here it is… white terrorists committing an intersectional hate crime against an African-American gay man, while shouting something about “making America great again.” This is the whole point of the Trump administration – to sow hatred, discord, ignorance and violence against those people the regime has marginalized and maligned. Hispanics, African-Americans, LGBTQ+ people, women. Very early Tuesday morning, Empire actor Jussie Smollett was attacked by two men in Chicago. Empire films in Chicago, and it is currently in production. This is what happened according to TMZ (they broke the story):

“Empire” star Jussie Smollett was brutally attacked by 2 men who beat him up, put his head in a noose and screamed, “This is MAGA country.” Sources directly connected to Jussie tell TMZ, the actor arrived in Chicago from New York late Monday, and at around 2 AM he was hungry and went to a Subway. We’re told when shortly after he walked out on his way home, someone yelled, “Aren’t you that f***ot ‘Empire’ n*****?”

The 2 men — both white and wearing ski masks — viciously attacked Jussie as he fought back, but they beat him badly and fractured a rib. They put a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him and as they left they yelled, “This is MAGA country.”

Jussie took himself to Northwestern Memorial where he was treated. He was discharged later Tuesday morning.

[From TMZ]

First of all, it’s crazy to me that after being brutalized and having a fractured rib and having bleach poured on him, he was A) still able to get himself to the hospital and B) discharged less than 12 hours later. But yes, this is a hate crime. It’s an intersectional hate crime because he’s black AND out-and-proud gay. It was a hate crime when they said the f-word and the n-word. It was a hate crime as soon as these white guys pulled out the f–king noose. Here’s the statement from the Chicago PD:

The Chicago Police Department confirmed in a statement that a member of the hit Fox show was involved in a “racially-charged assault and battery,” though they did not name Smollett. The statement continues: “A 36 year old man was walking … when two unknown offenders approached him and gained his attention by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs towards him. The offenders began to batter the victim with their hands about the face and poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim. At some point during the incident, one of the offenders wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck. The offenders fled the scene.”

A Chicago P.D. spokesperson tells PEOPLE that no arrests have been made and there are no solid suspects at this time. The officer says the attackers were wearing masks but will not confirm what they said, only that it was racially charged and homophobic. The victim thinks the liquid thrown on him was bleach, but detectives have yet to confirm that. He was by himself at the time of the attack.

[From People]

So far, only TMZ is reporting that for-sure the guys in ski masks said anything about “MAGA country.” Everyone agrees that they were saying racist and homophobic sh-t though. Everyone agrees that the ski-mask a–holes had a f–king rope with them. The Chicago police are being pretty slow on the draw by not designating this a hate crime immediately, and I’m not completely sure why. I get that they need to investigate and the “hate crime” designation is more of a legal term for the prosecution rather than an investigative lead. But it doesn’t help matters when it feels like the police are like “I’m not so sure what to call this” when a black gay man had bleach poured on him and a f–king noose put around his neck.

I’m glad Jussie’s injuries weren’t so serious that he had to be hospitalized extensively though. Truly, I hope he rests and takes it easy and I hope the police find these f–kers really soon.

Photos courtesy of WENN.