Cuba Gooding Jr. said he feels that the case surrounding Jussie Smollett reflected a pushback to a societal mentality that believes all accusers, when asked about the issue Thursday.

The New York City native, 56, chat with TMZ Thursday in the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court Thursday overturning Smollett’s 2021 conviction over charges he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself and lied to police officers in Chicago in 2019.

‘It’s almost like it’s time for accountability with what people say – we went so far one way with the movement of “believe everybody in their accusations,”‘ Gooding said. ‘And now we’re kind of experiencing repercussions for that … I think this is just the climate we’re in.’

The court said Smollett, 42, should not have been charged a second time after reaching a deal with prosecutors, marking a stunning reversal in a case that became part of a polarized political landscape.

Smollett is best known for playing the role of Jamal Lyon on Empire over 84 episodes from 2015-2019. Gooding had made an appearance on Empire’s third-ever episode in January of 2015, тιтled The Devil Quotes Scripture, but says he ‘never saw [Smollett] on the set’ of the Fox series.

Gooding was asked about the Smollett situation while promoting his upcoming holiday film, Athena Saves Christmas. 

Cuba Gooding Jr., 56, said he feels that the case surrounding Jussie Smollett, 42, reflected a pushback to a societal mentality that believes all accusers, when asked about the issue Thursday. Pictured in NYC in June 

The Academy Award-winning actor didn’t delve into specifics in regards to the circumstances surrounding Smollett’s legal entanglements.

‘If this young man got in a situation that got him locked up and went to the court case – which is what he did – go with God,’ the Jerry Maguire star said.

Read More Jussie Smollett’s wild hoax saga explained as conviction is overturned

Gooding, who has had his own past legal issues amid allegations of Sєxual misconduct, said he could empathize with Smollett in regards to the stress dealing with litigation in the limelight.

‘I know how this scenario is going into a courtroom as a celebrity – its like hey want to sensationalize every moment of it and now that he’s been set free from that, that’s his own story,’ the Boyz n the Hood actor said.

Thursday’s ruling did not address Smollett’s continued claims of innocence. 

Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police in January 2019 that two men ᴀssaulted him in his downtown Chicago neighborhood, spouting slurs, tossing a noose around his neck, and yelling that he was in MAGA country, an apparent reference to Donald Trump‘s Make America Great Again presidential campaign slogan.

The report, which made headlines around the world, prompted a mᴀssive search for suspects by Chicago police before investigators announced that they believed the attack was a hoax.

The state’s highest court found that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after Smollett reached a deal with the Cook County state’s attorney in which charges against him were dropped in exchange for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing community service.

Gooding, who has had his own past legal issues amid allegations of Sєxual misconduct , said he could empathize with Smollett in regards to the stress dealing with litigation in the limelight. Pictured in 2020 in NYC 

Said Gooding: ‘I know how this scenario is going into a courtroom as a celebrity – its like hey want to sensationalize every moment of it and now that he’s been set free from that, that’s his own story’

The deal prompted outrage in part because it did not include any condition that Smollett apologize or admit he staged the attack.

‘We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust,’ Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion.

The judge continued: ‘Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.’

Smollett was on the television drama Empire, which filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.

Testimony at trial indicated he paid $3,500 to two men whom he knew from Empire to carry it out.

Smollett testified that ‘there was no hoax’ and that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Smollett declined to comment Thursday through a publicist. His attorney Nenye Uche thanked the court for ‘restoring order to Illinois‘ criminal law jurisprudence.’

‘This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system,’ Uche said.

The special prosecutor, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, said he disagreed with the court’s ruling while noting that it ‘has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence.’

Jussie Smollett’s lead defense attorney Nenye Uche was seen speaking with reporters Thursday 

The Empire actor was seen headed to court in February of 2020 in Chicago 

‘The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct,’ Webb said.

After Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped the initial 16 counts of disorderly conduct, the backlash was swift, with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling it ‘a whitewash of justice.’

Webb was appointed special prosecutor and a grand jury restored charges, leading to Smollett’s 2021 conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.

Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail – six of which he served before he was freed pending appeal – and was ordered to pay about $130,000 in resтιтution. Chicago officials are pursuing reimbursement for that amount in police overtime through a civil case.

Foxx told The ᴀssociated Press that she was not surprised that the high court found her handling of the case ‘proper – if unpopular, proper.’

She criticized Webb’s ensuing ‘legal machinations,’ which she said ignored the tenet of prosecutorial discretion and landed the issue in the ‘same position we were in in March 2019.’

‘What they were doing in going to the court to re-prosecute someone because you didn’t like the outcome would have set a horrendous precedent, in which anyone could come in and undermine the work of a prosecutor’s office,’ said Foxx, who did not seek a third term this year.