An exclusive interview with actor Jussie Smollett is set to air Thursday on “Good Morning America” in which the “Empire” star will speak about the racist and homophobic attack he reported to Chicago police late last month.
In a clip released by ABC ahead of the segment, GMA anchor Robin Roberts asks: “What happened that night?”
Smollett’s answers are edited out of the clip.
Smollett appears to well up with tears when asked: “At any point during the attack, did you fear for your life?”
Left unsaid is whether Smollett will explain why on Monday — two weeks after reporting the attack — he gave Chicago police detectives only redacted phone records from the hours around the time he says the attack occurred.
MORE ABOUT THE SMOLLETT CASE
• After giving redacted phone records, reps stress ‘Jussie is the victim here’
• Jussie Smollett on reported attack: ‘Justice will be served’
• Trump calls Jussie Smollett attack ‘horrible,’ family calls it ‘domestic terrorism’
Smollett has told police that on Jan. 29 he was walking in the 300 block of East North Water Street about 2 a.m. when two people walked up to him, yelled the slurs, hit him in the face, poured a substance — suspected to be bleach — on him, and put a “thin, light rope” around his neck.
Smollett initially was “reluctant” to call police because of the attention he would generate as a public figure, police said. But his manager eventually called at 2:42 a.m., about 40 minutes after the attack.
The actor said he was on the phone with his manager at the time of the attack. His manager has said that he could hear the attack and was able to hear the phrase “MAGA country” — the acronym from President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Internet sleuths have cast aspersions on Smollett’s story since it was first reported, and an incomplete phone log may do little, if anything, to quell those doubts.
“I am working with authorities and have been 100% factual and consistent on every level,” Smollett said in a previously released statement. “Despite my frustrations and deep concern with certain inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be served.”
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said earlier this month that Smollett has been cooperative with detectives, and that the department is making progress in its investigation.
“We have no reason to think he’s not being genuine with us,” Johnson said. “The allegations that are described to us are horrendous, horrible and quite frankly cowardly. He is a victim, and we treat him like a victim.”
On Tuesday, after Chicago Police said the phone records that the actor had turned over were “insufficient for a criminal investigation,” representatives for Smollett issued a statement to reiterate that “Jussie is the victim here.”
“Chicago PD has repeatedly informed us that they find Jussie’s account of what happened that night consistent and credible,” Chris Bastardi, a spokesman for Smollett, said in an emailed statement. “Superintendent [Eddie] Johnson has been clear from day one that Jussie is a victim. We are continuing to work closely with the Chicago PD and remain confident that they will find Jussie’s attackers and bring them to justice.”
