Empire star Jussie Smollett was hospitalized and treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital?in Chicago after a violent attack late last night.

Chicago police have issued a statement that the incident, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Details below…

Smollett arrived in Chicago from New York late Monday evening and around 2am he ventured out to a Subway for a sandwich.

According to several online sources, the actor was?brutally attacked by 2 men who viciously beat him up, put his head in a noose.

TMZ reports that Smollett heard someone yell, “Aren’t you that f***ot ‘Empire’ n*****?” and e men,?both white and wearing ski masks viciously attacked Jussie.

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 was taken to Northwestern Memorial where he was treated. He was discharged later Tuesday morning. Chicago police issued the following incident report on the matter:

Coincidentally, ThatGrapeJuice reported that Jussie received a death threat about 8 days ago, which was sent to Fox Studios in Chicago with cut out letters spelling, “You will die black f**.”

No word yet on if the two incidents are related.

What are your thoughts about this horrible attack?