Smollett in court

US TV actor Jussie Smollett is to appear in court on Thursday after being arrested and charged with lying to authorities about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago.

Jussie Smollett, a black actor who stars in the Fox network drama "Empire," is facing felony criminal charges of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. The alleged incident initially seemed an example of growing intolerance in the US and led to an outpouring of support for the actor. But over the following weeks, the 36-year-old went from victim to suspect.

Smollett "is under arrest and in custody of detectives," Chicago police wrote on Twitter, adding that there would be a press briefing on Thursday morning. A spokesman tweeted that the actor was due to appear in Cook County Criminal Court for a bond hearing at 1:30 pm (1830 GMT).

Smollett claimed that on January 29, two masked men beat him late at night in downtown Chicago while yelling racist and homophobic slurs. He also told police that the attackers poured bleach on him and tied a rope around his neck.

"Felony criminal charges have been approved by Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report," Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement late Wednesday.

Smollett’s attorneys promised to conduct their own investigation and mount "an aggressive defense." "Like any other citizen, Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said in a statement.

The actor reported to police that one of his alleged assailants yelled "This is MAGA country" -- a reference to US President Donald Trump’s "Make America Great Again" slogan. But detectives grew suspicious of the account after interrogating two men who reportedly revealed that they were hired to stage the incident.

Chicago TV station WBBM said the men, brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, claimed Smollett was unhappy that a threatening letter he had earlier received at the Chicago studios where "Empire" is filmed had not received enough attention. The TV series describes the fortunes of a hip-hop mogul and his family battling over control of a multi-million-dollar music company.