‘There was no hoax,’ Smollett testifies at trial

CHICAGO — Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett denied Monday that he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself in downtown Chicago, testifying at his trial that “there was no hoax.”

Smollett, who faces charges that he lied to Chicago police about the January 2019 attack, sought to refute damaging testimony from two brothers last week. They said Smollett, who is gay and Black, orchestrated the hoax to get publicity, giving them $100 for supplies and instructing them to place a noose around his neck and yell homophobic slurs. They also said Smollett gave them a $3,500 check to carry it out.

But Smollett said he wrote the $3,500 check for nutrition and training advice from one of the brothers, Abimbola Osundairo, not as payment for Osundairo and his brother to carry out the attack. Asked by his defense attorney if he gave Osundairo payment for some kind of hoax, Smollett replied: “Never.”

The attorney asked if he planned a hoax. “No,” Smollett replied, “there was no hoax.”

Smollett also testified that Osundairo told him about an herbal steroid that encourages weight loss but is illegal in the U.S. He said Osundairo told the actor he could get him some “on the low” — or secretly — while he was on an upcoming trip to Nigeria.

Osundairo testified that Smollett sent him a text message — which jurors saw last week — about talking “on the low,” and that during the conversation Smollett asked him about helping to stage the attack. Smollett said Monday that message was in reference to the illegal steroid.

Defense attorneys have suggested the brothers, who are Black, were motivated to accuse Smollett of staging the hoax because they disliked him and then saw an opportunity to make money. They suggested that after the brothers, Abimbola and Olabingo Osundairo, were questioned by police about the alleged attack, they asked Smollett for $1 million each to not testify against him at trial.

Smollett’s lawyers also have argued that Chicago police rushed to judgment when they brought charges against Smollett, and suggested a third person may have been involved in the attack.

Smollett, 39, is charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct for making what prosecutors say was a false police report about the alleged attack. The class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said if Smollett is convicted he likely would be placed on probation.

Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press Actor Jussie Smollett arrives with his mother, Janet, at the courthouse in Chicago. Smollett is accused of lying to police when he reported he was the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack.