Jussie Smollet from "Empire" Comes Out to Ellen: "There Is No Closet"

Smollet goes back to Ellen to asnwer a question about his personal life.

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Ellen DeGeneres allowed Jussie Smollet—whose character on Empire, Jamal Lyon, is gay—the option to answer about his personal life. Smollet was a bit dodgy about the question that she didn't actually ask (subtext: "are you gay?") and Smollet talked about how you have to sometimes "clap back" on haters on Twitter.

Smollet did politely clap back to Ellen backstage, though, thinking that he didn't answer her question fully enough. He knocked on the host's door and they filmed a separate segment backstage. "You’re just Ellen," Smollet said, "so it was really important to me to make sure that it got across that there is no closet. There’s never been a closet. That I’ve been in."

Smollet said he doesn't talk about his personal life not because he's in the closet, but because it's private.  “I don’t talk about my personal life. But it is in no way to hide or deny who God made me. You know?” He finished the segment by saying, “I told Ellen. Who else do I need to tell?”

Below is the original interview with Smollet before he decided to say more backstage.

Because this is on the internet, and not every person is always satisfied, some people will quibble that he doesn't explicitly say the words: "I am gay" backstage. But listening to Smollet talk (in both segments) it's obvious that he isn't direct with words. He uses asides, humor, tangents, and allusions. But everything he said to Ellen amounts to "I am gay" and "I am proud." And there's nothing else that he really needs to tell if he doesn't want to. 

 

 

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