Earlier this week, Empire actor Jussie Smollett issued a tearful interview telling ABC News he was certain that two men sought by Chicago police and pictured in newly released surveillance video were the mysterious MAGA hat-wearing attackers that he’s maintained assaulted and lynched him in an alleged hate crime. Chicago police say that isn’t true, revealing the two men as Smollett’s gay lover and a friend.

The release of a grainy surveillance video showing two figures walking along a sidewalk near the scene of the alleged attack seemed to add credence to those claims. But now, Smollett’s story is collapsing as the true nature of yet another racially tinged media hoax emerges.

Chicago police reveal Thursday afternoon that the two persons of interest in the grainy video have been identified and interviewed and that they are close acquaintances of Smollett’s.

Very close.

While police have only officially identified the two men as an ‘extra’ from the Empire set and the other as a Smollett ‘friend,’ sources close to the story say that the true nature of events in the controversy involves a lover’s spat, infidelity and a homosexual love triangle between the three men that brought about an emotional confrontation on the night in question. All three men are African American.

Smollett’s original story was a tale of unprovoked assault by two Trump supporters who yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him, before beating him to the ground and looping a hangman’s noose around his neck in an apparent lynching attempt. The story grew in subsequent interviews as Smollett added that the men had yelled, “This is MAGA country!” albeit in an area that is anything but a Trump haven–a heavily Democrat metropolitan area where less than 20% of the population voted for Donald Trump (and on a frigid winter night with temperatures near zero.)

Early details left deep questions about Smollett’s account after observers noticed inconsistencies in the actor’s accounts and a very durable version of a sub sandwich that somehow survived the flurry of assault intact and fit for consumption after Smollett’s alleged attackers left the scene. But today, Smollett’s claims that the two men in a surveillance video were the MAGA attackers fell apart like any normal Subway sandwich might be expected to do during a fistfight.

Chicago police say they have interviewed the two men at length and are preparing to release a statement regarding the investigation. Sources indicate the CPD wants to release details quickly to put an end to the controversy, but is being held in check by the mayor’s office regarding the timing of that release.

Online rag Mediaite has reported that Smollett was involved in a fight with his male lover and a friend of that lover and then concocted the MAGA/Hate crime narrative cover story, unaware that police already knew the identities of the men on the video tape.

A flurry of Tweets from Chicago media seems to lend credence to yet another fabricated hate crime smear attempt against Donald Trump and his supporters.