Jussie Smollett Is the Subject of a Netflix Documentary About His Case Featuring ‘New Evidence’

Netflix is turning the headline‑making saga of Jussie Smollett into a 90‑minute documentary, “The Truth About Jussie Smollett?,” set to hit the platform on Aug. 22.

Billed by the streamer as the “shocking true story of an allegedly fake story that some now say might just be a true story,” the film features interviews with Chicago police, lawyers, journalists, and investigators who claim they will unveil new evidence surrounding the actor’s 2019 hate‑crime report, according to Variety.

Smollett, best known as Jamal Lyon on Fox’s Empire, told police in January 2019 that two men attacked him on a Chicago street, used racial and homophobic slurs, poured a chemical on him, and looped a rope around his neck.

Early public reaction—amplified by celebrities such as Viola Davis and Shonda Rhimes and by politicians including Kamala Harris and Cory Booker—framed the incident as an attempted modern‑day lynching.

The narrative shifted weeks later when surveillance footage led detectives to two Nigerian‑American brothers who had worked as extras on “Empire.” Investigators alleged that Smollett paid the pair $3,500 to stage the assault.

He was later indicted on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct; prosecutors later dropped the case, only for a special prosecutor to re‑file charges in 2020. After a high‑profile 2021 trial, a jury convicted the actor on five counts. He received 30 months’ probation, 150 days in jail, and fines exceeding $120,000.

In 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court vacated the conviction on procedural grounds, ruling that the second prosecution violated due‑process protections. Smollett maintains his innocence and, in 2025, reached a civil settlement with the City of Chicago.

Directed by Gagan Rehill and produced by RAW—the team behind “Don’t F**k with Cats” and “The Tinder Swindler”—the film looks to re‑examine each twist. Executive producers Tom Sheahan and Tim Wardle promise access to “key players,” per a statement released to Variety. At the same time, Rehill says he hoped to capture “the particular moment of rapid cultural change” in 2019, when society grew “more combative, more polarized, more divergent over our shared reality.”