After a year of silence, Jussie Smollett made a rare appearance on Instagram on Wednesday (March 25). The Empire star broke his social media hiatus to perform a song for his 4.8 million followers.
“Quarantine day 421…Hope ya’ll are staying safe. Spread love and kindness…not Rona,” Smollett captioned the video of him singing Stevie Wonder’s “A Place in the Sun.”
The 37-year-old actor has been mostly quiet since being accused of staging a hate crime against himself last year. Smollett claimed that Trump supporters attacked him near his Chicago apartment, doused him in bleach, and put a noose around his neck.
Despite accusations of fabricating the story, Smollett maintained his innocence, but was hit with 16 charges that were later dropped.
“Y’all can clown me all you want but my story has actually never changed and I haven’t lied about a thing,” he said last year in response to a post on The Shade Room. “Y’all can continue to be misinformed, internalized sheep, who believe what actual proven liars feed you or you can read the actual docs. Either way, I’mma be alright. I know me and what happened. You don’t. So carry on. All love.”
Last month, Smollett pleaded not guilty to six additional charges brought against him over the January 2019 attack.