“I Haven’t Lied About A Thing.” Former ‘Empire’ Star Jussie Smollett Maintains His Truth

Jussie Smollett became a household name after claiming to be a victim of a hate crime back in January. However, the case was dismissed after the details didn’t quite add up. While criminal charges against Smollett were eventually dropped, the whole incident was extremely shady.

It also cost Smollett his job on Empire, with his character Jamal written off with a single line in the final season premiere.

It all took place in one blink-and-you-miss-it conversation—a strategy that’s more common than one might think for writing off major characters. In the scene, Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) tells Jamal’s friend Becky Williams (Gabourey Sidibe) that Jamal “ran off to London.”

“I thought he was running away from Lyon drama,” Becky replies. “I really miss him.”

“Please don’t get me started,” Cookie says. “I miss him so much.”

And that was it!

The entire debacle over Smollett’s claims stoked an incendiary public conversation about race in America, and Smollett has maintained that his story is true the entire time.

Internet personality Derrick Jackson posted a picture of 12-year-old Amari Allen, who claimed that three of her classmates held her down and cut off her dreadlocks before eventually recanting her statement. Jackson captioned the image “Jussie really is a trendsetter.”

Smollett saw the post and took the bait, posting a response in the comment section.

“With all due respect brother, y’all can clown me all you want by my story has actually never changed and I haven’t lied about a thing. Y’all can continue to be misinformed, internalized sheep, who believe what actual prevent liars feed you or you can read the actual docs. Either way, Imma be alright. I know me and what happened. You don’t. So carry on. All love.”

This is one of the only times that Smollett has addressed the incident on social media.