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Empire star Jussie Smollett is maintaining his innocence concerning lies made to police over a phony homophobic hate crime in 2019, saying: “If I had done this, I’d be a piece of s***.”
Smollett, who was released in March on bond after spending only six of his original 150-day sentence in jail pending an appeal of his guilty verdict, joined an episode of the Sway’s Universe SiriusXM podcast that released on the actor’s birthday Tuesday to reiterate that he did not create the hoax.
<mediadc-iframe data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655997385841,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-8cce-d87c-af7f-ddce9ca80000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655997385841,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-8cce-d87c-af7f-ddce9ca80000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"title":"Jussie Smollett On Friendship with Taraji P. Henson, ‘B-Boy Blues’ Film & Gaining Clarity From Jail","iFrameEmbedCode":"","_id":"00000181-9122-df44-ad8b-d36aaa650000","_type":"00000161-b425-d761-a563-f7e77e270000"}”>Jussie Smollett On Friendship with Taraji P. Henson, ‘B-Boy Blues’ Film & Gaining Clarity From Jail
“I don’t think that that is, that’s not really questionable,” Smollett said. “I wanted to say, ‘If I had done something like this, it would mean that I stuck my fist in the pain of black Americans in this country for over 400 years.’”
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“It would mean that I stuck my fist in the fears of the LGBTQ community all over the world,” he added. “I am not that motherf***er. Never have been. Don’t need to be.”
Smollett told Chicago police officers that on Jan. 29, 2019, he had been targeted by two white men in ski masks who wrapped a rope around his neck and poured an “unknown substance” on him at about 2 a.m. The assailants shouted, “This is MAGA country,” an apparent reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, before taking off, he said.
“For whatever reason, I genuinely thought that people were gonna be like, ‘There is no way he did some bullsh** like that,’” Smollett told Sway’s Universe. “Y’all know me. And I’m thinking, people’s history should mean something.”
The actor acknowledged that other claims about past drug use were true, causing confusion about what was real.
“It’s very interesting: When someone lies on you, over and over, and you know what is the lie, then you’re forced to acknowledge the truths around the matter as well,” Smollett said. “And that’s really painful as well, ’cause it’s easy to just be like, ‘That’s a bulls*** lie. I didn’t do no f***ing hoax. F*** that.’ But then at the same time, then they bring out drug stuff. And you’re, ‘Whew, I did do that.’ And you’re sitting there and you’re like, ‘But this doesn’t have anything to do with what y’all are saying I did do that I didn’t do.’”
Smollett told Sway’s Universe that he would not choose to look weak and like a victim.
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“I am an actor, a director, a writer, a producer,” Smollett said. “If I were to do something, it would not be to look like a victim. It would be to look like, if anything, someone strong.”
