Jussie Smollett went for an interview with Sway’s Universe where he spoke about being convicted and sent to jail for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself in 2019.
“If I had done this, I’d be a piece of sh-t. And I don’t think that that’s really questionable,” said the former Empire actor.
“Again, it’s something I wanted to say. If I did something like this, it would mean I stuck my fist in the pain of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years. We’re not even talking about in Africa because that’s an even deeper, larger conversation. It would mean that I stuck my first in the fears of the LGBTQ community all over the world,” he told the show’s hosts.
“I’m not that motherf-cker. Never have been. Don’t need to be. Didn’t need to have some sort of rise in his career. I was on the up and up.”
Smollett spent six days in prison after his sentencing in March but was released while he appealed the conviction. He reportedly went on a hunger strike in jail and claimed he was shackled to a bed in a mental health hospital.
“There would be no reason for me to do some dumb, corny sh-t like that. But people are going to believe what they’re going to believe.”
