Several Democratic presidential candidates spoke up when the actor Jussie Smollett described a hateful attack based on his race and sexual orientation in January.

Not as many have spoken up since the police said the assault had been staged.

Mr. Smollett surrendered to face a felony charge of filing a false police report on Thursday, after the police in Chicago said he hired two brothers for the assault. Mr. Smollett denies the accusation, and his legal team said Thursday that he “feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.”

[Latest update — For Jussie Smollett, how a life of arts and activism is upended.]

At first, several Democratic presidential candidates expressed support for Mr. Smollett, who stars on the show “Empire.” Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker both called the reported assault a “modern day lynching,” comments that Republicans are now criticizing them for.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Ms. Harris said she was “sad, frustrated and disappointed” by the reports about Mr. Smollett. But other candidates have not publicly revisited their initial views of the case.