Jussie Smollett: 'If I Had Done This, I'd Be a Piece of Sh*t'
Disgraced Hollywood convict continues to claim innocence
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Disgraced Hollywood actor and convicted felon Jussie Smollett has stated that he would "be a piece of sh*t" if he had staged an anti-Trump hate-crime hoax against himself.
Speaking about the controversial trial and its aftermath on the Sway's SiriusXM show, Smollett stood by his claims of innocence and insisted he did not lie about his hoax, despite being convicted of the crime by a jury.
Smollett claims he has never felt more sober, grateful, and blessed.
The actor is attempting to claim that his moral principles as a black gay man somehow made him incapable of orchestrating the hoax.
"If I had done this, I'd be a piece of sh*t," Smollett said in the episode, which was aired on his 40th birthday on Monday.
"And I don't think that's really questionable."
"If I had done something like this, it would mean that I stuck my fist in the pain of black African Americans in this country for over 400 years," the compulsive liar added.
"It would mean that I stuck my fist in the fears of the LGBTQ community all over the world.
"I am not that motherf*****.
"Never have been. Don't need to be," he added.
With the benefit of hindsight, Smollett likened his March six-day prison stay at Cook County Jail to a cathartic opportunity he used to "reset and regain clarity" by fasting.
"My lawyer... he lied when he said I was fasting for lent," said Smollett, who was jailed for lying.
"I was not fasting for lent. I was fasting because that's what we do in my family, we fast for clarity," he said.
His description of his time in jail is a stark contrast to his pleas at the time when he asked to be released citing his COVID risks as an immunocompromised patient and then claimed that his incarceration was taking a huge toll on his mental health.
Six days into his initial 150-day sentence, Smollett was released pending an appeal.
The actor has seemingly thrown himself into work following the scandal. He released a song in April and made his post-scandal directorial debut in May on BET+ with the film B-Boy Blues.
But his reappearance from disgrace was not welcomed by his detractors on social media.
Many questioned why he was given a platform to reverberate his already-debunked claims.
"Dude go away," Twitter user @TreeHouse 9 wrote.
"You lied and stop being delusional and just own up to your shit.
"The fact that y'all giving him a platform to speak is crazy.
"Them people ain't just make that shit up. FOH."
Another user also tweeted: "Don't believe his lies.
"He is a horrible liar and a criminal for parading a forgery he wrote himself in front of congress.
"I will bet you $100 the 'writer' of the letter is never found," they wrote in reference to a homophobic, racist letter Smollett claimed to have received.
"Handwriting is his.
"Check the writing before sticking up for a stunt hoax."
User @Markitoz408 also complained that the "moment we forget about Jussie Smollett he pops up again."
Meanwhile, @windowtwonky compared the societal consequences of Smollett's hoax to those of Amber Heard's claims against her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
They wrote: "The case of Jussie Smollett stirred up a huge amount of racist rhetoric.
"He's still a liar though.
"He wasn't given a pass because of his race.
"The very same goes for Amber Heard.
"That she is being attacked by misogynists does not make her innocent."
