He’s really into cleanliness. And you all are lucky (or unlucky, depending on your POV) he wasn’t naked.
That’s what Jussie Smollett told The Root about a viral video of him mopping floors while his co-star Gabourey Sidibe cheered him on. The video popped up on Aug. 6 and has been retweeted more than 3,000 times.
“We are just really, really good friends and she’s just so damn funny that we are just stupid and our videos have become somewhat legendary, but it’s just us being stupid,” Smollett said.
In a chat about the upcoming season of Empire, Smollett (who plays Jamal Lyon, the son) talked about the funny videos he makes with Sidibe that have been tiding fans over as they wait for the show’s return Sept. 23.
In the video, a shirtless Smollett makes a face while Sidibe eggs him on to “get all of that dirt, Daddy. Yes. Yes!” She shared the clip from her phone with the tweet: “Cleaning these floors just how Momma like it!”
Smollett said it was all in fun.
“See? What had happened was Gabby was chilling on my couch, and I’m sort of a junky person, but a very clean person, if that makes any sense. Like, my clothes will be all over my bedroom, and then I have to clean it all up or else I’ll go crazy. And then my clothes will be all over, but I travel so much, so, like, my clothes, when I’m packing, they go everywhere, and then, when I’m unpacking, they go everywhere and then I clean it all up. But my house is never dirty,” Smollett said about his cleaning habits.
“Sometimes my bedroom has clothes all over it, but cleanliness is so important to me,” he continued. “I was just cleaning the house and I was just mopping my floor. [Gabby] was like, ‘Why you mopping your floor?’ [And I said,] ‘Because they, like, mop floors.’ And then she just took out her phone and I was just mopping my floor and we were just joking.”
As for the video’s “sexual” vibe, that’s also part of the joke. But it’s also kind of part of Smollett’s usual cleaning regimen.
“I know people are like, why does it seem like he’s having sex while cleaning the bedroom? That’s just what I do. I mop. If I could I’d be naked. But it’s, like, I’m naked all the time. Y’all lucky I had shorts on,” Smollett said.