Source: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Getty
Jussie Smollett has shared a clip of new single via Instagram where he is addressing the hate crime scandal that has plagued his career for three years.
In the song, titled “Thank You God,” the former Empire star continued to maintain his innocence even after being convicted of staging a racist and homophobic hate crime that occurred in 2019. Throughout the song, Smollett assures listeners that his actions were far from clout-chasing and that he didn’t deliberately set out to destroy his career.
“Some people searching for fame / Some people chasing that clout / Just remember this / This ain’t that situation / You think I’m stupid enough to kill my reputation? / Just simply to look like a victim / Like it’s something fun / Y’all better look at someone else / You got the wrong one,” he said on the track.
All proceeds made from “Thank You God” will go to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Illinois Innocence Project and Secure the Bag Safety.
After being convicted of five counts of felony disorderly conduct, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail but was quickly released after it was ruled that he could be free during the appeal process. Smollett was also sentenced to 30 months probation and has to pay $130,160 in restitution on top of a $25,000 fine.
Once the judge revealed his sentence, Smollett gave a bizarre statement claiming that he wasn’t suicidal and that if something happened to him while behind bars that it wasn’t by his own hands.
“If I did this, then it means that I shoved my fist in the fears of black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBTQ community,” Smollett shouted in the courtroom. “Your honor, I respect you and I respect your decision, but I did not do this and I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that.”
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