Kendrick Lamar's deepfake portrayal of Jussie Smollett in "The Heart Part 5" was a head-scratcher for the former Empire star.
Three years after the 22-time Grammy winner dropped the music video as promo for his fifth studio album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Smollett spoke on Kendrick's depiction of him on the November 28 episode of Cam Newton's Funky Fridays. In the video, Kendrick also generated deepfake versions of Will Smith, O.J. Simpson, Ye and Nipsey Hussle.
Around the 1:30:00 mark of the interview, Smollett denied having an "issue" with the GNX rapper and Dave Chappelle, the latter who joked about the actor's alleged 2019 attack.
"Also, maybe I'm completely naive, so don't fucking fill me in about anything...But I don't know. I don't know what Kendrick meant by the video. I really don't," Smollett told Newton.
"I respect him as an artist and that's about as far as it can go. You ain't going to see me putting out no diss track against him," he continued. "I'm not doing that."
Although Kendrick didn't provide a statement on "The Heart Part 5," when the video was released, Complex analyzed that his depiction of Smollett possibly represented the hypocrisy around his alleged racist and homophobic attack.
In February 2019, the actor and singer was arrested for staging the alleged crime, was sued by the City of Chicago, and was sentenced to 150 days in jail. Smollett would serve six days in jail before being released on bond and later, having his conviction overturned.
Elsewhere on Funky Fridays, Smollett stood by the controversial incident, saying that "most people have made up their minds about what they want to believe." "Either way, okay. Because at this point, my people know. My mother has always known. My siblings have always known. My love has always known," he told Newton.