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- USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change.'They are liars': Netflix doc weighs 'The Truth About Jussie Smollett?'</p>
<p>Erin Jensen, USA TODAYAugust 22, 2025 at 8:37 PM</p>
<p>A new Netflix documentary spotlights (once more) the mystifying alleged attack of an actor.</p>
<p>"The Truth About Jussie Smollett?" does not prove whether the 2019 incident was either a hoax or a hate crime. Instead, it presents an array of perspectives and interviews with those involved, including Smollett, 43, best known for his role in Fox's 2015-20 hit "Empire"; Melissa Staples, former chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department who speaks publicly about the case for the first time; Smollett's attorney, Tina Glandian; and Abimbola "Abel" Osundairo and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, the brothers who confessed to staging the attack.</p>
<p>According to Smollett, while returning from a Subway restaurant in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2019, someone yelled homophobic and racial slurs at him. Smollett was told, "This is MAGA country," and he and the two men, whundefined says were white, began brawling. Smollett alleges they put a noose around his neck. A letter threatening his life had been sent to Fox previously.</p>
<p>In the 86-minute documentary, Eddie Johnson, a former Chicago police superintendent who is Black, expresses his initial disgust that a pair of white men would attack the gay actor and musician. But weeks later, Smollett stood accused of staging the hoax with the Osundairo brothers, who appeared as extras on "Empire." Smollett firmly denies the charge, and a lengthy dispute ensued.</p>
<p>Johnson says Smollett hesitated to hand over his phone, but Smollett says he felt protective over his text messages. "For me, I live a full life," Smollett says in the documentary, "and I've made mistakes, and to be quite honest, the large thing that I did not want to get out there was my drug use." Johnson is suspicious about why Smollett wore the noose his attackers allegedly placed on his neck when police arrived. Smollett says he put the rope back on before the police arrived "to show them what was happening."</p>
<p>Director Gagan Rehill liked the idea of "playing both narratives out alongside each other (to) allow the public to kind of play jury," he tells USA TODAY. "I say that all these bits of evidence have a gem-like quality. Depending on where you turn them, it reflects sort of a different truth."</p>
<p>Abimbola "Abel" Osundairo, center, and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo with their attorney Gloria Rodriguez outside of the courthouse in Chicago on Feb. 24, 2020.What do the Osundairo brothers say happened?</p>
<p>Abel Osundairo says in the documentary that prior to the attack, Smollett texted him for help with something "on the low." Miffed that Fox wasn't taking the letter seriously, he said Smollett told him, "I want you to beat me up." Abel says Smollett requested a second person, so they recruited his brother, Ola.</p>
<p>"He was telling us, 'This is just a thing that's done in Hollywood,'" Ola says. They say Smollett intended to share security footage from his building on social media. The brothers had a $3,500 check from Smollett, which they claim was payment for their participation. But Smollett says he wrote the check so they could obtain "an herbal steroid" for him "to lose belly fat" that's illegal in the U.S. but available in Nigeria.</p>
<p>Sightings of white men around the time of the assault</p>
<p>Rebecca Bell, Smollett's neighbor, tells filmmakers that she saw a white man outside her building while walking her dogs, around 12:45 a.m. on the night of the alleged incident. "As I got closer, I looked," Bell says, "and out of the back – kind of sticking out of the back of his jacket, you could see a little bit of a rope."</p>
<p>Anthony Moore, a security guard at a nearby Sheraton hotel, says he saw a white man in a mask around 2:05 a.m. Moore claims police asked him to identify the person, but only presented photos of Black men.</p>
<p>Chelli Stanley, a freelance journalist, says video provided to her by police of Moore's run-in is missing a potentially pivotal 10 seconds. She suspects the absent footage might confirm the person Moore saw was white.</p>
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<p>If Jussie Smollett is innocent, why did he take a deal?</p>
<p>Smollett took a deal and agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond.</p>
<p>A statement from the office of Kim Foxx, the Cook County State's Attorney at the time, sent to USA TODAY explained, "After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett's volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case."</p>
<p>Smollett says in the documentary that his attorney advised, "'If this continues, this will go on for at least two years. Your career will stall, and people will forget about you.' Those are the exact words that she said. And it was because of that, that I made the decision and said, 'OK, we'll do it.'"</p>
<p>But that was not the end of Smollett's legal woes. Dissatisfied with the outcome, a special prosecutor convicted Smollett on five counts of lying to police and sentenced him to 30 months probation, restitution to city of Chicago in the amount of $120,106, a $25,000 fine and 150 days in Cook County Jail. However, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction, citing Smollett's previous deal.</p>
<p>Did the Osundairo brothers falsely confess?</p>
<p>While searching the Osundairo brothers' home, police found guns, which Ola, a convicted felon, was prohibited from possessing. Stanley theorizes in the documentary that the brothers struck a deal with police to escape any consequences and lied about being involved in the attack. But there's no evidence to support the claim, and Johnson rejects it, asking, "What kind of bizarro world are they living in?" Olabinjo also denies he made a deal with police.</p>
<p>Still, Smollett maintains his innocence, and blasts the police as fabricators. "I have no problem with saying 1,000% they are liars because they made it up," he says. "Every single bit of it."</p>
<p>Smollett appears to be attempting a return to the spotlight. He'll compete on Fox's athletic reality competition, "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test," premiering Sept. 25.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does Netflix's 'The Truth About Jussie Smollett?' exonerate actor?</p>
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