Jussie Smollett took the stand Monday in his trial for disorderly conduct for filing false police reports and made some eyebrow-raising statements.
SO WHAT
His story keeps getting harder to believe.
WHAT HAPPENED
Smollett, who is accused of staging a hate crime against himself, testified for more than five hours and denied that he orchestrated the attack.
- Last week, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo testified that Smollett hired them to impersonate racist Donald Trump supporters and attack him in Chicago on January 29, 2019.
- While the case initially garnered sympathetic media coverage for Smollett, authorities eventually determined he’d paid the two brothers $3,500 to perpetrate the fake assault for publicity.
- Smollett, who insists the Osundairo brothers attacked him, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct.
The bizarre case has taken a turn for the surreal since the start of the trial.
THE REVELATIONS
1. Smollett says he had a sexual relationship with Abimbola Osundairo.
- According to the actor, he and Osundairo used drugs together and, on one occasion, got a private room at a Chicago bathhouse where they “did more drugs and like, made out.”
- On another occasion, Smollett says he and Osundairo “made out a little bit, masturbated together.”
- Osundairo testified last week that he’d never had a sexual relationship with Smollett.
2. Tamara Walker, Smollett’s attorney, seems like a piece of work.
- Walker asked for a mistrial after Cook County Judge James Linn stopped the defense from continuing to inquire into Olabinjo Osundairo’s possibly homophobic tweet history, saying Smollett’s attorneys were getting into “collateral” territory.
- Walker then began sobbing, CBS Chicago reported.
- She also accused Linn of physically lunging at her.
3. A text from CNN host Don Lemon was allegedly a major factor in Smollett’s decision not to give police his phone records.
- Smollett testified that Lemon tipped him off to the Chicago Police Department supposedly being skeptical about his story, influencing his decision not to turn over his phone records, Fox News reported.
4. Apparently, Smollett thought he and Abimbola Osundairo were “dating.”
- “When did you and Jussie start dating?” defense attorney Shay Allen asked Osundairo during cross-examination last week.
- “What? We were never dating,” Osundairo replied.
- Allen pressed on, asking: “Were you using the sexual tension between you to progress your acting career?”
5. Smollett claims he has a scar under his eye from the alleged attack, even though a witness called by his own defense team says he had no injuries.
- “I have a scar under my eye that has not healed… my injuries were real,” Smollett said, according to Fox News’ Matt Finn.
