The 38-year-old former Empire actor Jussie Smollett maintains his innocence during an interview with former CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill. The interview was posted on Instagram and Smollett still suggests that he was the victim of an incident that allegedly took place back in January of 2019, in Chicago. Lamont is currently a BET correspondent and Temple University professor.
Smollett stated the following in the interview with Hill:
What happened in these last two years, it has humbled me in a way that nobody could possibly understand… Out of all these jokers in this entire situation, I am the only human being who has not changed his story one time.
There would be no reason for me to do something like this… There would be no reason for me to do something foolish… and I do think that if you look at all of the things that were happening for me, and then for all of the opportunities and all of the money… whatever, that I have lost at this point, if in fact what they said was true, the smart thing to do would be to admit that. At least there would be a place to work back from. This is bullsh*t. It’s bullsh*t.
It’s been frustrating to say the least… It’s been frustrating. It’s been beyond frustrating because to be somebody that’s so outspoken, to be somebody that speaks up for so much and speaks up about so many things, it’s been difficult to kinda be, you know, quiet.
“To not be able to say all of the things that you want to say, to not be able to yell from the rooftop because, I don’t think that people realize I’ve just been wrapped up in some form of a case for the last… approaching, in just a couple months, two years…
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CE8F-vJAopZ/
Two brothers claimed that Smollett gave them $3,500 to carry out the plan, then Smollett was later charged – but prosecutor Kim Foxx dropped those charges. However, Smollett faced trouble again later, for his story on the alleged incident, and got hit with felony counts of disorderly conduct. It also required a special prosecutor to be assigned to his case.
It doesn’t end there.
“The following February, a grand jury returned a six-count indictment accusing the actor of lying to Chicago police. A special prosecutor in Chicago said last month that Foxx and the office abused their discretion and made misleading statements in the case against Smollett but did nothing criminal,” as stated by USA Today.
Smollett has claimed that both the media and the police have shied away from the details, and suggests that video evidence shows two white men walking towards him, “but of course it cuts off right before it happens.”
Marc Lamont Hill was fired from CNN in 2018.