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Jussie Smollett On Filming Gay Sex Scenes On "Empire": "I’m Going To Go Balls To The Wall"

It's been a roller-coaster year for Jussie Smollett, who burst onto the scene earlier this year in Fox's soapy drama Empire, and became a household name.

But the 32-year-old actor/singer isn't new to the entertainment business: As a child he appeared in numerous commercials, and in movies like The Mighty Ducks and North. 

When not performing, Smollett is heavily involved with nonprofits like the Black AIDS Institute, which honored him last week with one of its 2015 Heroes For The Struggle awards. He also spoke at the 2015 GLAAD Media Awards last month in New York City.

The roller coaster shows no sign of stopping, either: Smollett has just returned to Chicago to start filming Empire's second season and he'll soon be jetting to Baton Rouge to film a part on the new WGN America series Underground, which just happens to star his sister, Jurnee Smollett.

Despite all this, Smollett remains cheerful and accessible: He sat down with NewNowNext recently to talk about playing Jamal Lyons, doing sex scenes on Empire, and why he's still never had Chicago's famous deep dish pizza.


NewNowNext: You just received the Black AIDS Institute's 2015 Heroes For The Struggle award. Is this your first award?

Jussie Smollett: It’s my first award ever, it really is and it’s so special. I’ve actually been working with the Black AIDS Institute since I was 16 years old. I’ve been doing so much work against HIV and AIDS—I used to work at Artists For A New South Africa—and with people and babies that are infected.

[caption id="attachment_209018" align="alignnone" width="599"]Black AIDS Institute 2015 Heroes In The Struggle Reception Gala Reception And Awards Ceremony Jussie Smollett with sister Jurnee at the Black AIDS Institute 2015 Heroes In The Struggle gala (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

[Institute CEO] Phill Wilson has really been one of my mentors, and he called me and he said I wanted to see if you would allow us to honor you as one of the heroes in the struggle.

So many of my close friends, like my sister Jurnee, have been honored by them and one of my idols, Danny Glover, has been honored by them. It’s just such a beautiful organization. I presented last year so here I am this year as a recipient. It’s pretty cool.

Past recipients include Coretta Scott King and Bill Clinton. That's good company to be in.

JS: Yeah, really good company. I’m really, really proud.

You just got back to Chicago to start season two of Empire, right?

JS: I just moved back to Chicago. it’s very exciting. I love the new script. Get ready!

What advice would you give Jamal going into Season Two?

JS: The same advice that I continue to give myself: Stay the man that you were before you had all of this. Stay the man that you were when you were sitting in the café saying you didn’t want all this.

That’s the advice that I would give, but who the hell knows if he’ll listen. He is a Lyons.

We're sure they’re going to throw a lot of stuff at him which will be fun to watch. And fun for you to act.

JS: Darling, it will be legendary. [Laughs.]

Let’s talk about the sex scenes on Empire. Is that a fun day to come to work?

JS: I would be lying if I said that it was. It’s not.

It’s not that the person is anything except good but there’s no way, unless they’re, like, really your baby. Like  where you want to be with them—that’s the only way that it would be "Yo, this is kind of hot."

You have to realize we’ve become really good friends. I’m really, really good friends with Rafael [de la Fuente, who plays Jamal's boyfriend Michael].

Then I was just on set with Eka [Darville, who played Ryan Morgan, another love interest for Jamal], with his wife and his baby. [Laughs.] This is not the norm!

[caption id="attachment_208869" align="alignnone" width="400"]empire-jussie-smollett-eka-darville Smollett and Darville[/caption]

But it is what it is. It’s never  like “I have a sex scene today!” But it’s a part of the job and you do what you’ve got to do. I’m sorry, like that sex scene with Ryan and Jamal turned out pretty fucking hot.

I would agree with you 100%.

JS: So, it's all good. Here’s the thing, Jim. In those moments you talk to your partner in the scene. You make sure that they’re comfortable. You make sure that you’re comfortable. I did go to Eka and I was like ‘Alright, bruh, how comfortable are you? Because for this [sex] scene I’m going to go balls to the wall. But I just want to make sure that you are comfortable."

He’s a righteous motherfucker and he was cool as hell. He was like "let’s do it bro, let’s do it" and it was all good.

I’ve never done a scene with someone that I didn’t respect and I didn’t trust. So I guess you have to ask me if that time ever does come. I’m sure my experience will be different but at this time it’s comfortable. We’re actors baby, that’s what we do!

If you need to throw somebody on a desk, that’s what you do.

JS: I mean, I’m just a dressed porn star, really. I’m a network porn star. [laughs] All of us Lyon brothers are network porn stars.

It’s not a bad thing. You’re all good looking men.

JS: Trust me, you will all see more and more and more.

Empire is a mainstream network show, so everyone is seeing you having relationships with other men and having sex scenes as much as everyone else.

JS: Isn’t that awesome? What it shows is just how much we’re all the same. It shows that at the end of the day humans, dogs, cats, sheep, bulls, cows, elephants, we all fuck the same. Think about that.

There should really be no real issue because we all do the same thing. It’s just about who we do it with.

At the end of the day these are human beings that are searching for love and searching for intimacy. That’s what we all want and that’s what they all get—good, bad or ugly.

I don’t imagine you have a ton of free time, but what do you do to relax?

JS: When I have free time, I chill with my family. I regroup and I listen to music. I go for a run. What actually chills me out is running. And when I’m not running I can get very anxious because I’m an artist.

What up #Miami. Tomorrow @tarajiphenson and I are doing a shoot with the legendary #BruceWeber. Today we ain't doing sheeeeit. #Chillaxin #FakeGrassAndHairyTeets

A photo posted by Jussie Smollett (@jussiesmollett) on May 13, 2015 at 2:36pm PDT

I'll be, like, "Oh, I need to keep busy! I need to keep busy!" What I’m learning is also to take time and slow it down a little bit. Because if I don’t slow it down, no one else will.

I guess jogging helps keep the calories off for all those sex scenes.

JS: Especially with everybody keeping me butt-ass naked on this damn show! I mean, it’s actually okay [but] I’m a brother that likes turkey sandwiches with french fries...

Being a part of Empire, though, really is like being an athlete. You can’t let yourself get too far off on the off-season because I’m singing the whole time.

I can’t go crazy and go out every night and be drinking because you will hear the results of that in my live performances. You’ll hear that when I’m recording material. You’ll hear "he’s tired, he’s been out, he’s been out too late, he hasn’t been sleeping."

So believe, it really is like being an athlete—you condition yourself. So this is my on-season now and I have to make sure I never get too far from what I'm  supposed to be doing.

But Chicago has that amazing deep dish pizza…

JS: Do you understand the entire time of Season One I would go out with friends, they would have deep dish pizza at Giordano’s, Lou Malnati’s—places like that. You have to understand I have yet to taste deep dish pizza.

I’ve never had deep dish pizza in my life  and I’ve lived in Chicago for a year!

Empire turns September 23 on Fox.

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