# Did you know who Jussie Smollett was before this year? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975 "2019-02-21T18:25:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/41 "2019-02-22T15:40:01Z")
He wasn’t in my area of awareness, but I have been an admirer of his sister, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, since her days on _Friday Night Lights_. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/42 "2019-02-22T16:30:27Z")
Not only had I never heard of him, but the first time I read the story on my newsreader I thought they’d misspelled “Jessie”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/43 "2019-02-22T16:39:24Z")
Had never heard of him. Don’t know if Empire is a movie or a show. Figure it has some Star Wars connection. Don’t really care. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/44 "2019-02-22T16:40:12Z")
I still don’t know if his name is pronounced “juicy”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/45 "2019-02-22T16:53:54Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I still don’t know if his name is pronounced “juicy”. His real name is “Justin,” so I would guess that the same vowel carries over to “Jussie” ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/46 "2019-02-22T16:57:24Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’m not entirely sure if someone used that name outside the context of the current news story I’d still know who he was. > > ```auto > > PERSON > Jussie Smollett... > > ME > Who? > > PERSON > The guy who faked the attack in Chicago > > ME > Oh, that guy. > > CUT TO BLACK > > ``` Same here. Until I opened the thread and got the name in context I had no idea. I voted “Who?” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/47 "2019-02-22T17:27:26Z")
I knew Empire from the commercials. I think Fox was advertising it hard during football. I knew who the two stars are and am a fan of their work. I never watched the show. As someone who hates the genre of music it’s about I’m not the demographic they are looking for. I heard the story about the attack before I had any idea who the actor was. It already sounded implausible to me before I had any background on him. Until a couple of posts ago I had no idea he had a sister who is also an actress. I’m usually pretty up on pop-culture but you can’t watch everything. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/48 "2019-02-23T01:05:44Z")
Nope. Never heard of his show either. I certainly became aware rather quickly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/49 "2019-02-23T01:31:34Z")
Yes, I live in Chicago and work nights, I often for walks around the Loop at night and have run into filming for Empire. I didn’t know of the show initially when I got stopped at a filing location, but I was informed from Facebook friends about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/50 "2019-02-23T03:05:42Z")
I find that, as I get older, I keep up with names of stars less. I often don’t watch the shows, and, when I do, I don’t pay attention to names much. I only know them if they make a big splash for some reason in the popular consciousness–like someone talking about them or I catch an interview and look them up. (I’m more likely to know the names of British comedians because I watch a lot of panel shows, and they always announce their names.) So I may not be the best person to ask. Still, I voted No. ---
**Author:** ![KMS94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ad7895/32.png) [@KMS94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KMS94)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/51 "2019-02-23T14:23:08Z")
I cancelled tv and cable after the final season of the Sopranos aired on HBO in 2007. There are an amazing amount of actors and tv shows I’m completely unaware of. Jussie Smollett is one, though I was aware there was a show called Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/52 "2019-02-23T16:03:13Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > 1. I knew Empire from the commercials. I think Fox was advertising it hard during football. > > 2. I knew who the two stars are and am a fan of their work. > > 3. I never watched the show. As someone who hates the genre of music it’s about I’m not the demographic they are looking for. 1. Same, I only know of any network TV show before it gets to Netflix or Prime, if so, by seeing promo’s during sports event broadcasting. So I’d heard of “Empire”. 2. I knew who Terrance Howard was by name and face, only knew the female lead by face until recently, no knowledge of Smollett, name, face or character in the show till the hoax story. 3. I don’t watch network TV at all besides sports. I rarely get into originally network shows on the streaming services either, just a few. I’m not a person of particularly ‘high’ taste but the general ‘feel’ of modern broadcast shows is rarely to my liking, the stereotypes, the ‘teachable moments’. Every form of video entertainment has these, and everybody is used to some set of them from their formative years, but those on today’s network TV shows are just too heavy handed to stomach generally for me. The saving grace of some network shows is if they were long running, so you can get into them on a streaming service, watch an episode a night for a awhile while being totally lazy, not expending the small mental effort to get used to a new bunch of characters. We for example streamed “The Good Wife” start to finish, often corny but tolerable. I can’t think of many other recent examples though. In some cases we’ve streamed quirky network shows which didn’t last, like ‘Awake’. Also some foreign countries’ former network shows don’t have the same preachy/teachy thing going as much as US shows. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/53 "2019-02-23T22:10:16Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > “When this started out, it was a story about people who hated Jussie Smollett because he was black and gay. But now, people hate him because he’s an asshole. In other words, they’re judging him on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. And that, my friends, is progress.” > –Trevor Noah Yes, it is funny … judged him good for being treated that way and now judge him bad for being a liar and a fraud and a cheat, but a great actor saying things like, “Oh my God who could do a thing like that”. Gives a whole new meaning to thou shalt not judge really means, “good or bad” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/54 "2019-02-23T23:25:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Plus, he had a major role in _Iron Man_, which is probably where most people saw him. He was in Iron Man? Gonna have to look it up cause I had never heard of him and didn’t recognize him. wanders off muttering into beard about people naming their kids after someone’s hair style ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/55 "2019-02-24T00:23:10Z")
To expand on my vote, which was “no”: - never heard of him before the fake attack story - kind of sorry I ever heard of him at all ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/56 "2019-02-26T16:58:08Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > He was in Iron Man? Gonna have to look it up cause I had never heard of him and didn’t recognize him. > > wanders off muttering into beard about people naming their kids after someone’s hair style He was James “Rhodey” Rhodes, otherwise known as War Machine. Don Cheadle took over the role for Howard after the very first movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975/57 "2019-02-27T16:42:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > He was James “Rhodey” Rhodes, otherwise known as War Machine. Don Cheadle took over the role for Howard after the very first movie. Apparently, Howard wasn’t satisfied with his role and wanted more money, but you don’t see HIM going off the deep end about it [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-who-jussie-smollett-was-before-this-year/829975.md?page=2)