Jussie Smollett sat down with “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts for his first interview since the alleged attack.
Good Morning America on Twitter
THIS MORNING: An @ABC EXCLUSIVE: @RobinRoberts sits down one-on-one with @JussieSmollett as he tells his story of being attacked in a vicious hate crime. "How do you not believe that? It's the truth." https://t.co/3HbyU3agVO https://t.co/PmkDh4uw8g
Good Morning America on Twitter
I look down and I see that there's a rope around my neck." @JussieSmollett recounts the details of exactly what happened that night of his attack. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/VltIlf0dYy
Good Morning America on Twitter
I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them. Never did." @JussieSmollett tells @RobinRoberts he knows the two people captured in an image by police are the same people who attacked him that night. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/tcR4OSjfAA
Good Morning America on Twitter
There's a level of pride there." @JussieSmollett says he waited to call police because as a gay man, he did not want to be seen as "weak." https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/zosV9Ni78H
Good Morning America on Twitter
Asked why he didn't initially hand his phone to police, @JussieSmollet says: "I have private pictures and videos and numbers...private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos...by then inaccurate false statements had already been put out there." https://t.co/3HbyU2SFxe https://t.co/4bycFHnlMp
Good Morning America on Twitter
I saw the rope burn around my neck, and then I smelled bleach." @JussieSmollett says he kept the rope and his clothes on until police got there so he could show them exactly what type of attack this was. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/gaO1xZlAFL
Good Morning America on Twitter
Asked why he thinks he was targeted, @JussieSmollet tells @RobinRoberts: "I can just assume I come really really hard against 45. I come really really hard against his administration." https://t.co/3HbyU2SFxe https://t.co/xig4TV1k5O
Good Morning America on Twitter
That says a lot about the place we are in our country right now." @JussieSmollett tells @RobinRoberts if his attackers were of a different race other than white, he feels he would have been more supported. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/7BzpTV91fP
Good Morning America on Twitter
@JussieSmollett to @RobinRoberts on attack: "I will never be the man that this did not happen to. I am forever changed...I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right & responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us." https://t.co/3HbyU2SFxe https://t.co/QPeSISqOXf
Good Morning America on Twitter
I want young people, young members of the LGTBQ community, young black children to know how strong they are." @JussieSmollett thinks people need to hear "the truth" after his attack. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/YGVIDMipgC
Good Morning America on Twitter
Learn to fight. Learn to be a fighter." @JussieSmollett says his advice for young gay men is not a message of violence but rather telling a matter of fighting for love, and to learn to fight for what you believe in. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/beQ3gQQ6qk
Good Morning America on Twitter
I want to believe, with everything that has happened, that there is something called justice." @JussieSmollett says he doesn't know how he will heal if his attackers aren't found. https://t.co/b5efiP0JCG https://t.co/Shtw0qCQOZ