Jussie Smollett Makes First Public Appearance After Apparent Hate Crime

Jussie Smollett took the stage Saturday night at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California, just days after he was attacked in an apparent hate crime in Chicago.

The 35-year-old actor and musician tearfully told a packed crowd “I’m not fully healed yet, but I’m going to [be]. I’m going to stand strong with y’all.”

Smollett, who appears in the popular show Empire, still had a knot on his face during the show.

The Jan. 29 attack on Smollett is being investigated as a “possible hate crime,” after two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs while they beat him, put a rope around his neck and doused him with an unknown chemical substance.

In a subsequent interview with authorities, Smollett, who is black and openly gay, said the perps made reference to “MAGA,” President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” catchphrase that was created during the 2016 presidential election.

Following his performance on Saturday, Smollett took time to clarify some misconceptions surrounding the apparent hate crime. “I was bruised but my ribs were not cracked; they were not broken,” he said referring to some notes he’d brought on stage. “I went to the doctor immediately. I was not hospitalised.”

“Above all, I fought the f–k back,” Smollett concluded before ending the show.

While this was Smollett’s first public appearance since the attack, this is not the first time he has spoken out. In a statement first published by Essence on Friday, Smollett said his attack wasn’t an isolated incident.

“These types of cowardly attacks are happening to my sisters, brothers and non-gender conforming siblings daily,” he said in the statement. “I am working with authorities and have been 100% factual and consistent on every level. Despite my frustrations and deep concern with certain inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be served,” he continued.