Jussie Smollett is opening up about his alleged 2019 hate crime hoax as he continues working to appeal the case against him. The Empire actor’s appeal is set to be heard by the state Supreme Court after his conviction in 2021 of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports following his claim that he was the victim of a hate crime in Chicago back in 2019. He also failed to appeal his 150-day jail sentence at the end of last year.
Now, five years later, he is breaking his silence as he maintains his innocence, admitting that as he was accused of staging a hate crime for media attention, he felt “numb.” Jussie Smollett's appeal to be heard by State Supreme Court after conviction Jussie Smollett fails to appeal 150-day jail sentence for faking racist attack He is speaking out in a new interview with People Magazine. The actor opened up about his five month rehab stint earlier this year, as well as all of the drama from the legal troubles he faced.
“I was numb,” he told the publication. “I didn’t know how to connect the dots. I really genuinely did not know,” he said.
“I couldn’t make sense of what was going on, and I couldn’t make sense of what people were actually thinking...
what exactly do they think happened? I couldn’t put two and two together.” Admitting he didn’t think anyone would believe a “rumor,” he now says he has put in years of self-reflection and healing in the years since, though he has dealt with the drama stil.