ABC/Stephen Green(NEW YORK) — Empire star Jussie Smollett’s sat down with Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts, in his first televised interview since he claims he was attacked last month in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
In a clip from the interview, Smollett gives his impressions of the surveillance video that shows two figures whom police are seeking in connection with the alleged attack.
“I do,” Jussie responds when Roberts asks whether he believes they could be the attackers. “Because I was there. For me, when that was released, I was like, ‘Okay, we’re getting somewhere.’ …I don’t have any doubt in my mind that that’s them. Never didn’t.”
In an earlier preview clip, Smollett told Roberts he’s still angry about what happened to him, saying he was “p***ed off,” explaining that he was frustrated by those who thought he made up the story, citing a lack of evidence.
“Like, you know, at first it was the thing of like, listen, if I tell the truth then that’s it because it’s the truth. Then it became a thing of, like, how can you doubt that? How can you not believe that? It’s the truth. Then it became a thing of, like, it’s not necessarily that you don’t believe that this is the truth. You don’t even want to see the truth,” he said.
Smollett’s interview with Roberts comes almost three weeks after he told Chicago police that he was assaulted by two men during the early morning of January 22 while leaving a Subway restaurant in Chicago.
The actor-singer told police that two attackers yelled racial and homophobic slurs, beat him, poured an unknown liquid on him and put a noose around his neck.
The incident wasn’t captured on surviellance video, but cameras spotted the singer and actor returning to his apartment after the alleged attack, still carrying the Subway sandwich he’d bought before he says the incident took place.
The case is being investigated as a hate crime. So far, no arrests have been made.
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