Smollett said he feels like if he blamed a Muslim or a Mexican, or someone black then the “doubters” would have supported his account of events immediately.

“I have to acknowledge the lies, and the hate,” he said. “It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me much more. A lot more. And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now.”

“I will never be the man that this did not happen to,” Smollett said. “I am forever changed. I don’t subscribe to the idea everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and the responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us, good and bad.”