The embattled actor’s identify resurfaces as Netflix’s newest documentary questions the official story and explores how mistrust in legislation enforcement formed public opinion.
Jussie Smollett and the fallout from his 2019 alleged hate crime are again within the highlight due to a provocative new Netflix documentary.
The Fact About Jussie Smollett?? questions the official model of occasions and explores how public mistrust in police and media helped form competing narratives.
Director Gagan Rehill revisits the controversial case that noticed Jussie Smollett convicted of staging a racist and homophobic assault on himself in Chicago.
Netflix launched the documentary practically six years after the unique incident in downtown Chicago, the place Smollett claimed he was overwhelmed by a pair of white MAGA supporters who tied a information round his neck and doused him with a chemical spray.
The movie, now streaming globally, dives into the swirling debate over what actually occurred and why so many individuals nonetheless consider conflicting variations of the reality.
“What a present as a director. You may tilt it a method [and] it’ll seem like one factor. You may tilt it one other and there’s one other story behind it,” Rehill advised The Hollywood Reporter.
Smollett, greatest identified for his function on Empire, was discovered responsible of felony disorderly conduct in 2021 after prosecuters charged him with faking the crime.
He served six days of a five-month sentence in 2022 earlier than being launched pending attraction. In November 2024, the Illinois Supreme Courtroom overturned his conviction on authorized grounds, which means he can’t be retried.
The documentary options interviews with key figures within the case, together with the Osundairo brothers—Abel and Ola—who claimed Smollett paid them to hold out the staged assault. The brothers reportedly acquired immunity from unrelated gun costs in alternate for his or her testimony.
Rehill mentioned the movie is not only about Smollett’s guilt or innocence but additionally in regards to the broader cultural second.
“This movie is about whether or not you consider Jussie or not, nevertheless it’s additionally a couple of response to [the news coverage of his case] as effectively. It’s simply very fascinating that individuals’s belief in mainstream media and within the police has been eroded a lot that they should open the door to alternate truths, or alternate outcomes or verdicts.”
The case has remained a flashpoint in conversations about race, superstar, and credibility in america. Smollett has maintained his innocence all through.
