Jussie Smollett sent a message to his fans through The Real talk show host Loni Love.
Love opened up about the phone call during Tuesday’s episode of The Real.
Before she broke down their convo, the comedian sent out a tweet over the weekend that described the call that she had with Smollett, confirming that the Empire actor will speak publicly soon.
“So Jussie called me…we had a long talk and he wanted to thank those that have supported him,” she said in the tweet. “He is with his family and wanted me to let the public know that he will answer all questions soon.”
She further said during Tuesday’s episode of her daytime talk show that Smollett is “going through it.”
“He said he was reaching out to people that showed love and support. He said I could ask any questions I wanted,” she said, adding that she was surprised he even reached out to her. “I was there not to judge him. I just wanted to listen to what he had to say.”
“He has a lot to say, but he’s not publicly ready to speak. But when he is publicly ready to speak, he will,” she said.
Love also felt that Smollett was “raw” and “candid” during their conversation.
“He said that he wanted to find out how the public felt,“ she explained. ”So, that’s why I put out the tweet. Not putting out the tweet as a scoop and all this…This is something he asked me to do.“
Smollett has kept a low profile ever since the charges alleging he lied to police about a hate crime attack were dropped last month. Smollett had pleaded not guilty to the 16 charges.
Last week, the city of Chicago sued Smollett after he refused to pay the city over $130,000 for the police investigation of his reported attack.
