What did we learn from “The Truth About Jussie Smollett?”

The title of Netflix's new documentary has a question mark—and for good reason. At the end of The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, each viewer will be a jury member in a trial, having to decide whether, given the facts, the assumptions, and the contradictions, Jussie Smollett is a victim, the target of a racially motivated crime, or a criminal, responsible for staging the attack himself.

The events date back to January 29, 2019: having just landed in Chicago, the actor—who at the time played Jamal on the series Empire —arrived home and realized he had nothing to eat. Despite the city's snowfall and freezing temperatures, he left his apartment and ended up buying a sandwich at a Subway counter . On the way back, he was approached by two hooded men who insulted him with racist and homophobic remarks (the actor is Black and openly gay) and assaulted him, leaving a rope around his neck.

This is the initial account of a story that went viral. Support and outrage came from all sides (including President Donald Trump and Black public figures and activists) at a time when racially charged crimes were on the rise in the US. Problem: authorities quickly revealed that the suspects in the attack were Ola and Bola Osundairo, extras on the series Empire , acquaintances of Smollett. They had apparently been hired by the actor to stage an attack. The goal was for the actor to become the face of the fight against racially charged crimes.

The actor was eventually accused of lying to the court and failing to cooperate. He made a deal with prosecutors not to be prosecuted, only to be charged again shortly after. He was tried and convicted—he served six days of his 150-day sentence. In 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction, but did not exonerate Jussie Smollett, who continues to maintain his innocence. He claims the Chicago police (who also have a rather murky history) are corrupt and tried to frame him, striking a deal with brothers Ola and Bola Osundairo in exchange for immunity in a gun possession case.

[the trailer for “The Truth About Jussie Smollett?”:]

The story takes many twists and turns, some more bizarre than others. There are interviews with those who defend one side and those who defend the other. Jussie Smollett himself is interviewed, as is the lawyer who defended him. On the other side are Chicago Police officers and the two brothers who claimed they were paid by the actor to stage the attack. There are also testimonies from a British producer and a freelance journalist, two women who wanted to investigate beyond the evidence presented in court. In the end, there may be countless conclusions, but here's what we learned from *The Truth About Jussie Smollett* .

The rope: murder weapon or prop?

When police arrived at Jussie Smollett's apartment, he was still wearing the rope his attackers had apparently placed around his neck—as if they were going to strangle him. The officers asked the actor to remove it. He complied, folding the rope and carefully placing it on the kitchen counter. For the officers, this was a warning sign.

"My family is from the deep south of Alabama [a historically racist state and site of lynchings], so I saw some things growing up. I don't know many Black people who, if they had a noose around their neck, would leave it there. They would treat it with disdain and disgust," says Eddie Johnson, police superintendent at the time.

In response to this, in the documentary Jussie Smollett says that he removed the rope from his neck immediately after the attack, but that he put it back on before the officers arrived to demonstrate what had happened.

The bag containing the sandwich the actor had gone to buy was also intact, even after the alleged assault, after the actor had been left lying on the floor and doused with bleach, according to detectives involved in the case.

What were you hiding on your phone?

The actor refused to hand over his phone to authorities when requested. The police found it strange, and that's when Smollett's lack of cooperation became a serious problem. The actor maintains that he only refused to hand over the device because he "didn't want to publicize his drug use." Nothing more is said about this, except that he had asked his brothers Ola and Bola for steroids.

Misconduct, abuse of power, drug sales, and more—all of this is part of the Chicago police force's history. Four years before the Smollett case, authorities attempted to remove footage from officers' uniform cameras that showed a 17-year-old boy, Laquan McDonald, being shot 16 times.

The two cases are incomparable, but this episode is used to point the finger at the city's police. Eddie Johnson, superintendent in 2019, was also later fired for drinking on the job, the documentary recalls.

A deal with the police?

"I received footage that I wasn't supposed to see, that you weren't supposed to see," says Abigail Carr, a British producer who took an interest in the case. She's referring to a video captured in a room at the police station where the Osundairo brothers were initially detained. In addition to the two of them, their lawyer and several detectives are present. Everyone appears to be discussing the terms of a plea bargain.

Bola Osundairo describes himself as a model, boxer, and "an extraordinary human being in every way." His brother, Ola, claims to be an actor and fitness instructor. The brothers already had criminal records, and yet the house where they lived was full of weapons. This, according to one theory, was the perfect bargaining chip: the police wouldn't press charges and would seal the previous records (it wasn't convenient for aspiring actors to have a checkered past) if the Osundairos said Jussie Smollett had hired them for the attack. And the two men weren't all that surprised by the request to stage an attack, since, they say, "we thought that was how it was done in Hollywood."