On August 22, 2025, Netflix released The Truth About Jussie Smollett? Notice the question mark. It’s a retelling that gives Smollett the stage to revive a story that was already widely discredited.
It mixes archival footage, courtroom clips, media soundbites, and sit-down interviews with Smollett himself. Netflix keeps the spotlight on emotion: Smollett’s tearful reflections, his insistence that the attack was real, and his complaints about feeling “emasculated” by media coverage — focusing on drama and feeling.
Just minutes into the documentary, Smollett insists again that he told the truth:
“My story has never changed. My story has remained intact. Trust me. There have been people that have come to me and said, just say that you did it. But why would I say that I did something if I didn’t do it?
He relives the alleged incident: going to Walgreens, then Subway, when two masked men confronted him. He swears they shouted, “Aren’t you that Empire fag*ot nig*er?” and “This is MAGA country” before punching him in the face. Smollett said he punched his ass back, saying he could see the attacker’s “pale skin” under the mask. After they left, he said he looked down and saw a rope around his neck.
But let’s be real: we’re supposed to believe that at 2 a.m., in the middle of a polar vortex, two random white guys were wandering the streets of downtown Chicago with a rope and bleach in hand — just waiting to spot Jussie Smollett, instantly recognize him from Empire, hurl slurs, and shout “This is MAGA country”?
Chicago is one of the most Democrat-infested cities in America. The idea that two “MAGA white supremacists” just happened to be out there, perfectly scripted with props, is beyond laughable.
In December 2021, a Chicago jury convicted Smollett on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing false police reports about the attack he claimed happened.
In March 2022, Judge James Linn handed down the sentence: 150 days in jail, 30 months probation, $120,106 restitution, and a $25,000 fine. The judge blasted Smollett’s “sheer arrogance and narcissism,” saying he wasn’t motivated by fear or survival, but by vanity and a selfish desire for attention and fame. He told Smollett, “You destroyed your life as you knew it. You’ve ruined your life’s work, and you did it all for vanity.”
Although Smollett was released after just six days when an appellate court paused his sentence during appeal, the guilty verdict still stands. The courts, the evidence, and the law rejected his tale — even as Netflix now hands him the microphone to repeat it. To its credit, Netflix does include the jury’s verdict, the judge’s rebuke, and the evidence that dismantled Smollett’s story. But even while showing that side, the documentary tilts toward Smollett’s perspective — letting his claim of innocence overshadow the evidence against him.
The Truth About Jussie Smollett? replays a hoax that divided the country, with Smollett trying to pit Black against White, left against right, truth against lies — and the media gladly helped him. Yes, they eventually reported his guilty verdict, but nowhere near with the same intensity as when they amplified his claims. Headlines were softened, some framed the outcome in vague terms, minimizing the reality that Smollett was convicted on five of six counts. They blasted his story across the airwaves when it served their narrative, but when the hoax collapsed in court, they quietly moved on.