Jussie Smollett clears up the facts of what happened when he was attacked
Jussie Smollett doesn't want there to be any more confusion about what happened to him on Tuesday.
The Empire star spoke openly about an attack that police believe to be a hate crime during his first performance since the incident. Smollett was reportedly assaulted on Tuesday morning by two men who lobbed homophobic and racist slurs at the actor, put a noose around his neck, and doused him in an unknown chemical substance.
Various accounts of what allegedly happened have surfaced in the days since the incident, many of them attributed to anonymous officials rather than named police officers or Smollett himself. That's led to some conflicting views of what actually happened.
Smollett hit the stage in a West Hollywood nightclub on Saturday with the intention of setting the record straight. Using notes scrawled down on a crumpled piece of paper, the actor ticked off four points of fact that have been the subject of some confusion.
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"Just because there's been a lot of stuff said about me that's absolutely not true ... there's just a couple of points I want to make really quick," he said.
"I was bruised but my ribs were not cracked. They were not broken. I went to the doctor immediately ... I was not hospitalized. Both my doctors in LA and in Chicago cleared me to perform, but said to take care obviously."
Then he added: "And above all, I fought the fuck back." The crowd cheered Smollett into silence for a good 30 seconds before he spoke again, with a joke to break the tension and get the show rolling: "I'm the gay Tupac."
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
