Despite his felony conviction and sentencing for a hate crime hoax, Jussie Smollett is standing by his story and maintaining his innocence.
The actor is back in the spotlight with the release of his new film, The Lost Holliday, featuring Vivica A. Fox. He recently sat down with Entertainment Tonight to explain why he reportedly spent $3 million appealing the case he still claims he’s telling the truth about.
“I want to have all of these things in my life, and I don’t want to have a felony on my record for something that I didn’t do,” Smollett said.
“That’s what we’re fighting for. I know that on the surface, it probably seems like why doesn’t he just serve the time? Why doesn’t he just let this go? It would be easier if I had, in fact, done this to say that I did it. I wouldn’t have spent almost $3 million of my own money. I would not have had a trial.”
In December 2021, Smollett was found guilty of five felony counts. On March 10, 2022, he was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and required to pay $120,106 in restitution for the overtime costs incurred by Chicago Police during the investigation of his false reports of being a victim of a hate crime.
However, Smollett has never admitted to lying and has always maintained that he was targeted in a violent racist, homophobic attack in Chicago in January 2019. The Empire star walked into a police station to report that he was attacked by two men around 2 a.m. He claimed the assailants used racist and homophobic slurs, wrapped a rope around his neck, poured an “unknown substance” on him, and shouted that it was “MAGA country.” It was later revealed that Smollett had hired two Nigerian brothers to help him orchestrate the attack.
Despite his conviction and six days in jail, Smollett firmly maintains his innocence. According to the actor, his ongoing assertion is why he continues fighting.
“As an entertainer, as a businessman, I probably should [stop fighting the charges],” Smollett said during the interview. “But as a human being and as a man, as a Black man and as an openly gay Black man, I have a problem with letting them win on something they shouldn’t be able to.”
The actor continued. “I’m a grown man, and something happened. I can’t tell exactly what did happen, but I can tell you what did not happen. That’s what I have to sit on. No matter how much people are yelling in my face, saying, ‘You’re a liar, you’re a liar.’ No, I’m not. No, I’m not. I don’t want them to believe that, but if that is what they believe, that’s on you.”
Many people remain skeptical, given the details presented by prosecutors
and the testimony of the Nigerian brothers, who stated that the actor hired them to carry out the failed scheme. However, according to Smollett, while “fighting the very things that are untrue,” he got entangled by truths that were used “to prove things that were not true.”“So there were those moments where I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, my life is kind of — oh, well, I didn’t do that.’ And they’re like, ‘But you did this.’ And I’m like, ‘Ah, I did do that. I did buy that.’ And there are things like that that I’ve had to talk to my family about, that I’ve had to talk to friends about,” he explained.
“I’m OK with accepting responsibility for things that I’ve actually done. I’m just not OK with accepting responsibility for things that I did not do.”
The brothers testified that Smollett orchestrated the hate crime hoax near a surveillance camera to ensure that video footage could be publicized. However, Smollett maintains his innocence, asserting that his story has remained consistent, unlike other accounts related to the incident.
“I’ve stood by, not my truth but the truth for the entire time, almost six years,” he said. “I haven’t switched my story up. I haven’t changed anything that I ever said. I stand by every single thing that I’ve ever said. Everyone else in the situation, every single person, has changed their story numerous times.”
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