Well, well, well, look who it is. While most people are retreating from the public, former Empire actor Jussie Smollett decided to reemerge. The 37-year-old all but disappeared in the year since Chicago police accused him of paying two brothers to stage a racist and homophobic hate crime against him on January 29, 2019. He deleted his Twitter, Empire moved on, and his last Instagram post was from June 2019. Until today. The actor (and singer) revived his Instagram account to serenade us with a song about perseverance, ’cause, you know, the coronavirus.
“Quarantine Day 421,†he captioned it. “Hope y’all are staying safe. Spread love and kindness … not Rona.†Day 421? What did Jussie Smollett know that the rest of us didn’t know? Actually, March 25 is 421 days exactly since January 29, 2019, the date of the incident in question. Not exactly sure what definition of “quarantine†he’s going for, but, to be fair, we’re all playing fast and loose with that one lately. Smollett is just another in a long list of celebrities who believe the power of music will aid in the fight against a global pandemic. (It unfortunately won’t.) On February 24, Smollett used his pipes to plead not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct in a new criminal case tied to the incident. Needless to say, 2020 has a lot going on.