Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett claimed under oath Monday that there was no hate crime hoax, telling the court that he had been in the car with brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo but that he had spent the time driving, smoking a blunt, and texting someone about an appearance on MSNBC.
Smollett, who was charged with faking a racist and homophobic hate crime and filing a false police report, chose to take the stand in his own defense.
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.
As to the night of the attack, Smollett claimed Bola Osundairo’s call was to discuss personal training and a meal plan, after which they discussed a trip to Walgreens to buy the eggs Bola told him he needed to eat.
Jussie Smollett testifies Bola Osundairo called him the night of the attack to talk about Smollett’s training and meal plan. Smollett says Bola told him he had to eat 4 eggs.. so Smollett talked about going to Walgreens to get eggs.
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) December 6, 2021
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 gay bath house.
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.