A second man testifies that Jussie Smollett paid him and his brother to carry out a racist and antigay attack that the actor plotted himself.
Actor Jussie Smollett told Chicago police in January that two men attacked him near his apartment building in Streeterville, slipping a noose around his neck and yelling racial and homophobic slurs., but it isn’t easy. Abimbola Osundairo stuck with his story during cross-examination while also denying that he had a sexual relationship with Smollett or had asked the actor to hire him.
Smollett’s legal team is expected to ask Olabinjo Osundairo on cross-examination about his previous felony conviction, which he testified Thursday was in 2012, for aggravated battery. As a convicted felon, he could not legally possess a firearm, but police found several guns when they searched the brothers’ home after the alleged attack. Abimbola Osundairo said that the guns belonged to him and that Olabinjo Osundairo didn’t live there, but defense attorneys questioned that.
Abimbola Osundairo, an aspiring actor who worked with Smollett on the Chicago set of “Empire,” said he and his brother agreed to their roles in the fake attack because he felt indebted to Smollett for helping him with his acting career. Olabinjo Osundairo said he didn’t know they were going to be paid for the fake attack, and said he wouldn’t have participated if he had known Smollett would involve the police.
The morning after they carried out the hoax, as news broke of a hate crime against Smollett, Abimbola Osundairo said he texted a note of condolence to Smollett, also as instructed. It read: “Bruh, say it ain’t true. I’m praying for speedy recovery.”
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