Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett asked Special Prosecutor Dan Webb to stop reading the N-word out loud during the court hearing as the attorney read Smollett’s own messages aloud as evidence.
The exchange took place during the sixth day of the controversial trial involving Smollett. He is facing six counts regarding allegations he staged a hate crime against himself in 2019 and claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic incident.
“Some of the messages included the use of the N-word, prompting Smollett to interrupt the prosecutor to ask him to spell or abbreviate the word so as not to offend ‘every African American in this room,.'” Tyler McCarthy reported for Fox News.
The messages were originally written by Smollett.
Webb then invited Smollett to read his own messages before the court, but said he would not comply with Smollett’s request. Smollett reportedly complied with the offer.
Webb: I don’t intend to do that sort.. you can read your messages aloud.
Smollett then reads his own message— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) December 7, 2021
As The Daily Wire reported Monday, Fox News national reporter Matt Finn, who has been covering the trial since its beginning last week, offered several updates via Twitter after Smollett took the stand.
“Jussie Smollett just said under oath ‘there was no hoax,’” Finn tweeted, adding, “Smollett says he was driving, smoking a blunt and texting with a woman about MSNBC appearance – day of January 27th – when the Osundairo brothers were in his car. Brothers say that’s when hoax was being planned.”
Jussie Smollett just said under oath “there was no hoax.”
Smollett says he was driving, smoking a blunt and texting with a woman about MSNBC appearance – day of January 27th – when the Osundairo brothers were in his car. Brothers say that’s when hoax was being planned.— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) December 6, 2021
Smollett also testified that it had become a running joke on the set of “Empire” that the Osundairo brothers were actually his security team. He claimed that he did not want the studio to provide security because he preferred to drive around in his own car and “smoke my blunt” during lunch breaks. The defense went on to argue that the Osundairo brothers were attempting to “scare” Smollett into officially hiring the brothers to provide security.
According to Smollett’s testimony, he was training with Bola Osundairo primarily because “Empire” creator Lee Daniels had told him that he was fat and because he wanted to lose weight for a music video. He also claimed that he and Bola had a more personal relationship, saying that the first night they met they had done weed and cocaine together and gone to a private room in a bathhouse.
Osundairo said last week, under oath, that he had never had a sexual relationship with Smollett. He also told the court that Smollett had orchestrated the entire attack, saying that Smollett had told them what to say and where they should be, even taking them out to show them the location and the camera he hoped would capture the attack, using the code word “training” to describe what appeared to be a dry run.
Chicago Police detectives said that Smollett appeared to be frustrated when he learned that the camera had been pointed in the wrong direction to pick up the attack, and initially refused to turn over his phone to law enforcement.