Smollett on Why He Didn’t Report Incident to Cops: In Our Society, Gay Men Are Considered ‘Weak’

EXCERPT:

ROBERTS: "Why did you hesitate to call the police?"
SMOLLETT: “There’s a level of pride there. We live in a society where as a gay man, you are considered somehow to be weak. And I’m not weak. I am not weak. And we are as a people are not weak. So during that time before they came -- took them about maybe half hour to come, and during that time I was looking at myself just like checking myself. I saw the bruise on my neck, you know,  like the little — the rope burn around my neck and then — but I smelled bleach. I know the smell of bleach, and I saw on my sweatshirt. It had marks on it like spots on it when you have a bad bleach job. So then I was like there’s bleach on me too. So when the police came, I kept the clothes on, I kept the rope on.”