Yesterday, December 2nd, was day four of Jussie Smollett’s trial, which saw the actor’s defense team grill his alleged attackers and star witnesses Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo. The former Empire star is currently facing six felony counts of giving a false report to police after he made claims that two men attacked him back in 2019.
The Osundairo brothers say that Smollett planned the attack – allegations that he vehemently denies. On Thursday, the 39-year-old’s attorney, Shay Allen, was given the chance to question the witnesses. At one point, she insinuated that Abimbola was secretly dating Smollett to help advance his career, which he went on to deny, adding that he didn’t think the Santa Rosa native had any sort of feelings for him.
Allen then asked Abimbola if he and his brother told Smollett that they wouldn’t testify and he could make this “all go away,” by paying them each $1 million; he also denied this. Later in the trial, the same brother was interrogated about visiting a Chicago bathhouse that’s known for having a large gay clientele and allegedly playing pornography inside. Abimbola shared that he didn’t recall seeing porn on screen at the spa, or having masturbated with Smollett there.
As far as why he attacked the B-Boy Blues director, Abimbola told Allen that he and his brother were asked to “fake beat [Smollett] up” because he felt that his security on the set of Empire wasn’t being taken seriously enough. “I said, 'Hey, aren't you that Empire (homophobic slur)?' and we said the other words, and my brother said, 'This is MAGA country.' That’s when I proceeded to punch him in the face and tussle … I threw him to the ground, put the bruise on his face, then I saw some car lights and then ran away," he recalled on the stand.
The brothers reportedly flew to Nigeria after completing Smollett’s alleged plan, where they tuned into the news to see if anyone was reporting on the story. When Allen asked Abimbola why he wanted to check, he said, “Media attention. Jussie wanted it. He got what he wanted.”
When it was Olabinjo’s turn to take the stand, he provided even more detail about the incident. “He went on to explain that there was some hate mail sent to him at Empire studios and he had this crazy idea that two MAGA Trump supporters attack him so he can get the footage of that and put it on social media and have that shown to Empire studios. At first, I was kind of taken aback . . . when I thought about it, it’s Hollywood, I was like, it’s probably what they do out there.”
As VladTV reports, the trial is set to resume on Monday. Check back in with HNHH then for more updates.
[Via]
