Six years after one of Hollywood’s most divisive scandals, the Jussie Smollett saga is back in the national spotlight—this time, courtesy of Netflix’s new documentary, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?. Released on August 23, 2025, the 90-minute film gives viewers an unfiltered look at the infamous case that blurred the lines between celebrity, justice, and media spectacle. With Smollett himself, the Osundairo brothers, police officials, and legal experts all taking turns at the mic, the documentary doesn’t claim to offer easy answers. Instead, it throws open the doors for a fresh round of public debate about what really happened on that frigid January night in Chicago.
Back in January 2019, Jussie Smollett—then a star of the hit TV series Empire—reported to police that he’d been the victim of a vicious racist and homophobic assault outside his Chicago apartment. According to Smollett, two men attacked him at 2 a.m., hurled slurs, poured bleach on him, and placed a noose around his neck. The story sent shockwaves through Hollywood and beyond, garnering widespread sympathy and support from celebrities, activists, and politicians. As red94.net notes, the incident “stirred significant public outrage in the United States, triggering a massive wave of support.”
But the narrative soon took a dramatic turn. After an intensive investigation—one that saw dozens of detectives assigned to the case—the Chicago Police Department alleged that Smollett had orchestrated the attack himself, enlisting the help of two fellow Empire extras, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo. According to police, Smollett paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the assault, hoping to use the resulting publicity to negotiate a better salary on Empire. The Osundairo brothers later published their own book, Bigger Than Jussie: The Disturbing Need for a Modern-Day Lynching, sharing their perspective and denying any independent role in planning the attack.
From there, the legal rollercoaster began. Smollett was sued by the city of Chicago for staging a hate crime and was ultimately convicted in 2022 on five counts of felony disturbing the peace. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail and ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution. But the story didn’t end there. In 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction, ruling that an earlier agreement with Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx’s office should have barred the appointment of a special prosecutor and the subsequent retrial. By May 2025, Smollett had settled with the city, but the case’s shadow continued to loom over his Hollywood career—his only major production since 2021 being The Lost Holliday (2024).
Now, with the release of The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, Smollett is hoping to finally set the record straight. The Netflix documentary features candid interviews with Smollett, the Osundairo brothers, former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, and Smollett’s lawyer Tina Glandian. The film gives equal weight to both the prosecution’s narrative—complete with evidence, payment trails, and surveillance footage—and the inconsistencies that have fueled ongoing doubts about the investigation. As NewsNation reports, the documentary “dishes up exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage, letting Smollett break his silence since the drama rocked Hollywood in 2019.”
Smollett, for his part, remains unwavering in his defense. In the documentary, he states, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether someone likes me or doesn’t like me. The fact is: I didn’t do that. And that’s all that matters.” He also addresses lingering questions about why he left the noose on until police arrived and why he withheld phone records, explaining that his main concern was privacy—especially his drug use—not hiding evidence. The Osundairo brothers, meanwhile, recount their version of events, with Ola Osundairo saying he “thought it was crazy” when Smollett allegedly paid them for the attack, and Abimbola accusing Smollett of wanting “to be the poster boy of activism for Black people, for gay people, for marginalized people.”
Yet, the documentary doesn’t shy away from the fact that, even after years of investigation and litigation, no definitive physical evidence—no video, no DNA—has ever emerged to conclusively prove or disprove Smollett’s account. As Screen Rant points out, “There’s no definitive ‘solution.’ There’s no video of the attack and no DNA evidence—just conflicting accounts.” The film ultimately leaves viewers to draw their own conclusions, highlighting how much of the case hinges on whom you choose to believe.
The media’s role in shaping public perception is also a central theme. The documentary retraces how the story exploded online and in political circles, with the early #BelieveJussie movement quickly giving way to accusations of a “modern-day lynching hoax.” High-profile figures—from then-Vice President Kamala Harris to President Trump—took sides long before the investigation was complete. Social media, too, remains divided. Some fans, as reported by Sportskeeda, have slammed Smollett as a “horrible arrogant narcissist,” while others continue to question the details of his story—why the noose remained on, why the attackers’ race was misidentified in CCTV footage, and whether the police investigation was truly impartial.
Smollett himself accuses the police of shifting the narrative to protect the real perpetrators, insisting in the documentary that the department “buried the evidence and protected [his] attackers.” But as NewsNation and Screen Rant both note, the documentary is unlikely to sway those who have already made up their minds. “Those who believe that he is innocent will firmly emphasize that he is, in fact, innocent, and the same is true for those who express his guilt,” writes Screen Rant. The film’s real achievement may be its willingness to let all sides speak, giving viewers a rare chance to reconsider their assumptions in the face of conflicting testimony.
For Smollett, the stakes remain high. With his Hollywood prospects dimmed and public opinion still sharply divided, the documentary represents a last-ditch effort to reclaim his narrative. Whether it will succeed in changing hearts—or simply reignite old debates—remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: six years on, the Jussie Smollett case is as unresolved, and as fiercely argued, as ever.
