Jussie Smollett has revealed that he still feels “insecure” when meeting new people, a lingering effect of his alleged hate crime debacle.
In a new interview with Variety on Wednesday, the 43-year-old American singer opened up about the lasting impact the incident has had on his personal life.
“I’m still insecure when I meet people for the first time,” the Chasing the Sky hitmaker told the outlet.
“I don’t know if they are coming into the room thinking that I’m this trash person who did something that I didn’t do, or if they are thinking that I am this good person who got a raw deal,” Jussie explained.
His comments come just before the release of a new documentary about the high-profile case. The film, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, is set to debut on Netflix on August 22.
In January 2019, Smollett, a Black man, claimed that two men attacked him while he was on his way home from a Chicago restaurant, allegedly shouting racist and homophobic slurs. Following an investigation, prosecutors concluded that Jussie had staged the attack to gain media attention. In March 2022, the Empire star was sentenced to 150 days in prison for filing a false police report.
