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Get ready, because Netflix is dropping what might be the most polarizing docufilm of the summer. The Truth About Jussie Smollett? premieres globally on August 22, 2025, and it’s packed with fresh footage, new interviews, and a lot of new details. Expect everything, from Chicago cops to lawyers, journalists, investigators, and Smollett himself, to weigh in on the incendiary 2019 case that divided a nation.
Directed by Gagan Rehill and helmed by the producers behind Don’t F**k with Cats and The Tinder Swindler, the 90-minute documentary promises to dig deep, re-examining the night Smollett claimed he was attacked. Did the public nightmare begin with a legitimate hate crime or a self-staged event that backfired?
Streaming exclusively on Netflix, The Truth About Jussie Smollett? brings renewed scrutiny to Smollett’s version of events, as well as how the narrative was spun. It’s timed just as the actor continues to navigate life post-legal saga: his 2021 conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court in late 2024, and he recently settled with the City of Chicago, donating $50,000 to charity.
What is The Truth About Jussie Smollett? about?
On a freezing January night in 2019, Chicago’s streets were nearly silent, except, according to Jussie Smollett, for the shouts of two masked strangers. The Empire actor claimed they doused him in bleach, slipped a rope around his neck, hurled racial and homophobic slurs, and sneered, “This is MAGA country.”
Investigators soon uncovered that the so-called assailants, brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, were not strangers but acquaintances from the Empire set. Paid $3,500 by Smollett, they had bought the rope, masks, and gloves, and even rehearsed the “attack” under his direction near a surveillance camera he believed would capture the act.
The upcoming documentary assembles a sharp mix of detectives, reporters, attorneys, and investigators, all retracing the tangled threads of the Jussie Smollett saga. Their mission is singular: peel back the headlines and find out what really happened on that frigid January 29, 2019, night.
The actor's career took a drop after the incident, and he was sentenced to 150 days behind bars. He served only six before walking free on bail.
Months later, he struck a $50,000 settlement with the city of Chicago, earmarked for the Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts. And then came the twist: in November, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction on Fifth Amendment grounds, reigniting debate over whether the truth of that night will ever be fully known.
Release date and platform for The Truth About Jussie Smollett?
The description of the documentary reads,
Trending
“[It’s] a shocking true story of an allegedly fake story that some now say might just be a true story. Featuring interviews with police, lawyers, journalists, investigators who claim to have uncovered new evidence about the case, and with Jussie himself, this compelling documentary invites the audience to decide for themselves who is telling The Truth About Jussie Smollett?“
The Truth About Jussie Smollett? will be available to stream on Netflix from August 22, 2025.
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