Jussie Smollett isstillstanding by his story.The embattled actor, who claimed he was the victim of a hate crime in 2019, is stepping back into the spotlight with a new album and a new documentary, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, which will debut on Netflix August 22.In 2019, Smollett was a rising star on the hit show Empire. Then, on January 29, he reported to Chicago police that he had been attacked by two white men wearing MAGA hats who shouted racist and homophobic language, put a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him.Over the next few months, Chicago police arrested two men, who they say were hired by Smollett to fake the attack. Smollett stood by his story; however, he was found guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing false police reports. In 2024, the convictions were overturned due to a violation of due process.In a new interview with Variety, Smollett once again insists on the accuracy of his account, labeling the Chicago Police Department and the city's former mayor, Rahm Emanuel, as "villains" in his story."The villains are the two people who assaulted me, Chicago Police Department and, if I may be so brave, the mayor," Smollett said, referring to Emanuel, who was mayor of the city from 2011 to 2019.Smollett went on to suggest that the former mayor and the Chicago PD conspired to dismiss his claims of being attacked and instead charge him, due to an investigation into the fatal police shooting of Black teenager Laquan McDonald."Could it be that they had just found out about the missing minutes and the missing tape from the murder of Laquan McDonald? Could it be that the mayor helped hide that?" he asked. "We're living in a world where the higher-ups, their main mission, in order to do all of the underhanded things that theyre doing, is to distract us with the shiny object." In the interview, Smollett also maintains that the two Nigerian-American brothers who cooperated with police, saying they were enlisted by the actor to carry out the attack, were not the men who assaulted him."All I can say is, God bless you, and I hope it was worth it," he said, directing his comments to the brothers. "Every single other person's story has changed multiple times. Mine has never. I have nothing to gain from this."Smollett later expressed hope that the upcoming documentary will shine some light on the case and prove his innocence. But when asked why evidence clearing his name hasn't come out in the six years since the alleged attack, Smollett said, "I don't really know.""I'm not an investigative reporter or a detective. I can't sit and tell you exactly, beat by beat, what happened. I can only tell you what did not happen. And what did not happen is the story thats been out there for almost seven years, that somehow I would have even a reason to do something as egregious as this," he said.In the interview, Smollett also compared himself to another Black entertainer accused of wrongdoing: Michael Jackson."I saw firsthand how narratives are built. I saw firsthand the way that someone can take the exact opposite of who you are and literally sell it," he said. "And people will be like, 'I believe it!' God rest his soul, but homeboy Michael Jackson tried to warn us."In addition to participating in the new documentary, Smollett is working on his second album, Break Out, and recently released the independent drama The Lost Holiday on Tubi.