Jussie Smollett Reacts to Critics Who Say He Doesn’t Deserve 2nd Chance in Hollywood (Exclusive)
Jussie Smollett Reacts to Critics Who Say He Doesn’t Deserve 2nd Chance in Hollywood (Exclusive)
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00:00Any feeling in your stomach?
00:04There's always a feeling in my stomach when I sit down
00:06because, you know, I don't particularly like interviews.
00:09But I also, you know, I'm a big boy
00:13and I know why we're here and what we gotta do.
00:16So it's all good.
00:17So you're ready.
00:18I'm ready.
00:19Okay, got it.
00:20I'll just jump right in then
00:21because you know there are going to be people
00:24when they see, first of all, they see your name
00:27and they see that you're doing an interview.
00:29They're going to say, why should I give him a second chance?
00:33Why do I want to listen to what he has to say?
00:35So what is your response to people
00:38who have that immediate feeling about you?
00:40Well, I understand that.
00:42You know, I have to, it's been a long time
00:44and I've had a lot of emotions attached to this.
00:48You know, so when I extract my emotions,
00:50when I extract even, dare I say, my ego from this,
00:53I can understand why people feel the way that they do
00:56specifically because of the narrative that was spun
00:58and was given to them.
01:01I've stood by, not my truth,
01:03but the truth the entire time for almost six years.
01:05I haven't switched my story up.
01:07I haven't changed anything that I've ever said.
01:10I stand by every single thing that I've ever said.
01:13Everyone else in the situation,
01:14every single person has changed their story numerous times.
01:18So I don't really know what else to say about that.
01:20Again, I understand if I felt some sort of way,
01:23if I knew someone or respected them
01:24or even didn't care about them
01:26and heard the things that were heard about me
01:29that were just factually untrue,
01:31then I would feel some sort of way too.
01:33So I can't sit here and say, you know,
01:36oh, well, that makes absolutely no sense because it does.
01:39The only problem is, is that people tend to think
01:42that I somehow fooled them when in actuality
01:45it was the other way around.
01:46Everyone else fooled them.
01:47So I don't know what else to say about that.
01:50I could have said that I was guilty a long time ago.
01:53January 2019, Jussie claimed he was the victim
01:57of a hate crime, but cops later uncovered evidence
02:00allegedly indicating the actor paid two extras
02:02who worked on his show Empire to stage the attack.
02:06Jussie was booked for disorderly conduct.
02:08He got community service and the charge was dropped.
02:11But the following year, more trouble.
02:13You were convicted.
02:14Sure.
02:15On five counts of disorderly conduct.
02:17You were sentenced to 150 days in jail,
02:20had to pay restitution.
02:22You have served six of those days
02:24and then you were released.
02:25Right.
02:26Pending appeal.
02:26Right.
02:27Where does that stand now?
02:28We're still fighting.
02:30I mean, it's at the Illinois Supreme Court
02:33and we'll see what happens.
02:34And it's been hard, man.
02:36Like it's been, it hasn't been, you know,
02:39I can smile now, but there was a long time
02:42where it was so frustrating because it was like,
02:44am I ever gonna feel like me again?
02:45Right.
02:46You know, and trying to move forward.
02:48Also, you know, the way that it works
02:52is what liars do is they take a big pile of lies
02:54and they sprinkle it with the truth.
02:55So as I'm sitting here and I'm fighting the things,
02:57the very things that are untrue about me,
02:59some truths did come into play that they use
03:02to kind of, to certain, to prove things that were not true.
03:06And so there were those moments where I was kind of like,
03:09oh my goodness, my life is kind of, you know,
03:12oh, well I didn't do that.
03:13And they're like, but you did this.
03:14I'm like, oh, I did do that.
03:15I did buy that, you know?
03:16And things like that that I've had to talk
03:20to my family about, that I've had to talk to friends about,
03:23you know, and, but I'm actually contrary to popular belief.
03:27I'm okay with accepting responsibility
03:29for things that I've actually done.
03:31I'm just not okay with accepting responsibility
03:32for something that I did not do.
03:34What are those things you've taken responsibility for?
03:36Oh my gosh, substance abuse.
03:38You know, that sort of came to light.
03:40Not sort of, that came to light.
03:41You were a loose cannon at some time.
03:43I was.
03:44Reckless at some time.
03:45Absolutely was reckless.
03:47When I saw that you checked yourself into rehab,
03:50I thought, that makes a lot of sense.
03:53Why did you do that?
03:54What was your reasoning behind deciding to do that?
03:58I've wanted to do it for years.
04:00I've wanted to do it for a number of years.
04:02And to be quite honest, I was told that I couldn't.
04:06They told you you couldn't
04:07because they looked at it as a sign of guilt?
04:09Or why did they tell you you couldn't?
04:11I think so, maybe.
04:12I don't really know.
04:13I had to get better coping mechanisms.
04:15And that's what the problem was for me.
04:18Jussie's support system has always included
04:20his famous family and Empire co-stars
04:23from Taraji P. Henson.
04:25There was one really difficult moment,
04:27many difficult moments that she was there,
04:28but there was one difficult moment in particular,
04:31and she rushed over and just physically cradled me.
04:37And those are the things that, that's not a coworker.
04:41That's not a celebrity friend.
04:46That's family.
04:47To Vivica A. Fox, who now stars alongside him
04:50in The Lost Holiday, out now in select AMC theaters.
04:54It marks Jussie's acting return.
04:57She plays the mother of his late husband,
04:59meeting for the first time ahead of the funeral.
05:02You have offered Jussie grace.
05:04He's family.
05:05He's family.
05:07Vivica is such a huge part of my moving on,
05:10of my moving forward, because that's-
05:12Did she encourage you to take that step
05:13back into the spotlight?
05:15Oh my goodness, absolutely.
05:17We can talk about that a little bit later.
05:19Oh, right, right, right, right, right.
05:21Okay, yeah, I hear you.
05:23Somehow she has,
05:26she has made it okay to
05:32give my work a chance.
05:34I can tell you're fighting, trying not to get emotional.
05:36I can see your bottom lip.
05:38I am, because
05:43people just don't know me.
05:45Yeah.
05:45I want to adopt a kid, you know?
05:47Like, I want to have all of these things in my life
05:49and I don't want to have a felony on my record
05:51for something that I didn't do, you know?
05:53So that's what we're fighting for.
05:55It's like, it's much,
05:56I know that on the surface it probably seems like,
05:58why doesn't he just serve the time?
05:59Why doesn't he just let this go?
06:01It would be easier if I had in fact done this
06:04to say that I did it.
06:05I wouldn't have spent almost $3 million of my own money.
06:09I would not have had a trial.
06:11And you know there are probably a lot of people out there
06:13who say that, like, why doesn't he just take this and go
06:17and move on with his life?
06:19Because as an entertainer, as a businessman,
06:24I probably should.
06:26But as a human being, and as a man, as a black man,
06:30and as an openly gay black man,
06:32I have a problem with letting them win on something
06:36that they shouldn't be able to, you know?
06:39And I know that, you know, I've heard so many words,
06:42so many, you know, fiery or outbursts
06:47or whatever those are,
06:48but I'm a human being before I'm anything.
06:51I don't know about this fame stuff.
06:53Like this fame stuff is not real to me.
06:55None of it is real.
06:56You know, the so-called rage that people feel,
07:02well, you don't know what it is
07:04until you've had to completely over and over and over
07:08try to prove your own traumas.
07:10And that's exhausting.
07:12That's utterly exhausting.
07:13And there's a very few people who understand
07:16what that actually feels like.
07:18I'm a grown man and something happened.
07:22I can't tell you exactly what did happen,
07:24but I can tell you what did not happen.
07:27And that's what I have to sit on.
07:29No matter how much people are yelling in my face,
07:32saying, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar.
07:35No, I'm not.
07:36No, I'm not.
07:37I don't want them to believe that,
07:38but if that is what they believe, that's on you.
07:43Is there anything you would have done differently
07:46in these past six years?
07:47My goodness, a million things I would have done differently.
07:50A million things.
07:52Very early on, I gave up my power in the situation.
07:56And looking back, I wish that I hadn't
07:58because there were people making decisions.
08:01I wish I hadn't done the interview.
08:05I never wanted to.
08:06I watched it and I was mortified.
08:09I'm tired of other people getting a chance
08:12to keep on talking about it.
08:13I'm ready for their gravy train to stop.