Jussie Smollett Speaks in Netflix Doc ‘The Truth About Jussie Smollett?’

Jussie Smollett is participating in the forthcoming Netflix documentary about his infamous hoax case.

From RAW, the producers of true-crime hits Don’t F**k with Cats and Tinder Swindler, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, which is coming to the streamer on Aug. 22, is described as “a shocking true story of an allegedly fake story that some now say might just be a true story.”

Tom Sheahan and Tim Wardle are executive producers.

Along with the Smollett sitdown, the 90-minute doc features interviews with police, lawyers, journalists and investigators who claim to have uncovered new evidence about the case and that “with Jussie himself, this compelling documentary invites the audience to decide for themselves who is telling The Truth About Jussie Smollett?”

Director Gagan Rehill said in a statement, “This story is a thrilling ride, and we were lucky enough to have access to the key players. I wanted this documentary to balance their competing narratives and to also use their compelling, colorful testimonies to thread the light and shade of the story through the film. But much more than that, I wanted this film to speak to the particular moment of rapid cultural change when this takes place in 2019; when, as a society, we were becoming more combative, more polarized, more divergent over our shared reality — when we began to lack a common singular Truth.”

Smollett, who broke out on Fox’s Empire, was famously accused of faking a homophobic attack in Chicago in 2019. He was found guilty in December 2021 by a grand jury for felony disorderly conduct for falsely reporting police that he was the victim of a hate crime. He served six days of a five-month jail sentence in 2022 before he was released pending an appeal.

In November 2024, he then had his conviction overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court, with a judge ruling that a second prosecution after the case had already been resolved and was a violation of his right to due process. 

Smollett has maintained his innocence in prior interviews as he returned to the film industry.