‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett Confirms he is Gay: ‘There’s never been a closet’

Jussie Smollett from the new Fox drama, "Empire," confirms that he is a gay man while on "Ellen."

Ever since Smollett gained fame from being a part of this new series, questions about his sexuality have come up frequently.

"There's never been a closet that I've been in," the actor said to Ellen DeGeneres. "I don't own a closet, I got a dresser, but I don't have a closet. But I have a home and that is my responsibility, to protect that home."

Smollett, who is also an indie musician, added, "What you've [Ellen] done within the LGBT community is very much, in my opinion, kind of like what Michael Jackson did with the black community, just that you are who you are...So it was really important to me to make sure that it got across that there is no closet. There is without a doubt, no closet that I've ever been in. And I just wanted to make that clear, but it was most important for me to make that clear to you on your show at this time in the world."

Smollett, 31, plays Jamal Lyon, the second son of hip-hop artist turned businessman and CEO of Empire Entertainment, Lucious Lyon, who is played by Terrence Howard. In the show, Lucious wants one of his three sons to take over his company one day. However, since Jamal is gay and the eldest son, Andre (Trai Byers) is not musical, Lucious has been focused on grooming his youngest son, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray).

Throoughout the first season, Jamal has to deal with his homophobic father. When Jamal ends up coming out on the show, Smollett talked about how he got hate messages from the online community. However, he added that the hate will not deter him from doing what he loves.

"I get some ignorant tweets every once in a while ... and I know you're not supposed to respond, but sometimes you got to clap back!" Smollett said. "I'm a firm believer that people cannot get away with murder ... I just feel that, as tenants of this Earth it's our job to make a difference and make the world better and we can't just sit around and let people spew nasty things and just think that's OK. It's not OK."

In the interview, Smollett also talked about how he managed to get an audition with the show's creator Lee Daniels by direct messaging him on Instagram. Smollett had to audition seven times before he landed the job.

Smollett did not reveal any other details about his personal life.

Smollett's co-workers from the show have tweeted their support.