Jussie Smollett is doubling down on his denial that the 2019 attack against him was staged.
The 44-year-old former Empire star is speaking out ahead of the August 22 release of the Netflix documentary The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, maintaining that he has told the truth from the start.
“Every single other person’s story has changed multiple times. Mine has never. I have nothing to gain from this,” Jussie said in a new interview with Variety, insisting that the narrative portraying him as the mastermind of the incident is false.
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He claims he was attacked by two masked men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs before putting a noose around his neck and dousing him with bleach.
“What did not happen is the story that’s been out there for almost seven years, that somehow I would have even a reason to do something as egregious as this,” he said.
The actor also accused the Chicago Police Department and then-mayor Rahm Emanuel of conspiring against him, calling them “villains” alongside the two people he says assaulted him.
“The villains are the two people who assaulted me, the Chicago Police Department and, if I may be so brave, the mayor,” he said.
“I saw firsthand how narratives are built. I saw firsthand the way that someone can take the exact opposite of who you are and literally sell it,” he added.
The Truth About Jussie Smollett? will be available to stream on Netflix beginning August 22. Find out more about the documentary.
Source: justjared.com