In his Thursday interview with Good Morning America, Empire actor Jussie Smollett struck back at those who have doubted his story of an alleged hate crime attack in Chicago.
Throughout his chat with Robin Roberts, Smollett described his frustration with those who’ve criticized him and taken a skeptical view of his attack. At one point he suggested that his doubters might have a racial agenda, saying they wouldn’t be so disbelieving if his attackers were minorities.
“It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black (who attacked me), I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot much more, a lot more and that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now.”
As Smollett defended his reluctance to share his phone records with the police, he grumbled about “inaccurate, false statements” that have been spread about the attack, citing one which claimed that he said his attackers wore MAGA hats. Smollett explained that this was a false add-on to what he said earlier in the interview about how his attacker supposed yelled pro-Donald Trump slogans during the assault.
“I never said that. I didn’t need to add anything like that,” Smollett said. “They called me a f*ggot, they called me a n*gger. There’s no which way you cut it. I don’t need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae.”
Smollett continued to bash other “ridiculous” false narratives about the attack, he said that he could’ve been targeted because “I come really, really hard against 45. I don’t hold my tongue.” Smollett said he was appreciative that the president condemned the “horrible” attack on him, but as for the perpetrators, “I could only go off their words.”
“Who says ‘This is MAGA country,’ ties a noose around your neck, and pours bleach on you and this is just a friendly fight?”
