‘He wanted me to do the punching specifically, because he trusted me,’ Abimbola Osundairo told the jury.
Chicago, Ill. — Abimbola Osundairo, one of two brothers accused of conspiring with former Empire star Jussie Smollett to stage a racist and homophobic attack against him in 2019, took the stand in the actor’s criminal trial Wednesday, laying out Smollett’s alleged plan for jurors.
Abimbola Osundairo and his older brother Olabinjo Osundairo are key witnesses in the case against Smollett, because they were the ones that carried out the attack on him, and then exposed the alleged conspiracy after detectives identified them as suspects.
Smollett’s defense lawyers acknowledge the brothers took part in the attack, which involved the Osundairos calling Smollett racial and homophobic slurs, punching him, pouring bleach on him, wrapping a noose around his neck, and yelling out “this is MAGA country.” But the defense says the attack was real, not staged, and they have suggested that the Osundairos, who are black like Smollett, targeted the actor and singer for being gay. The defense has painted the brothers as liars, criminals, and homophobes.
The case rocked the nation in early 2019, with pundits and Democratic politicians pointing to the attack as evidence of bigotry rampant in then-President Donald Trump’s America. But in the weeks after the alleged attack, detectives became increasingly skeptical.
During his four-hour testimony, Abimbola Osundairo, an aspiring actor and amateur boxer, said he first met Smollett through a friend in the fall of 2017. Over the next year and a half the two became friends, regularly going out to nightclubs, strip clubs, and bath houses together, and sometimes just hanging out and smoking marijuana.
“We became very good friends, I would even call him my brother,” Osundairo said of Smollett.
Osundairo was working as an extra on Empire at the time, and at one point he said Smollett helped him to get a better job on the hit show. Osundairo said he gives Smollett “1,000 percent credit” for him getting the promotion to stand-in on the show, and said he felt indebted to him.
In late January, Smollett asked Osundairo for assistance getting in shape for an upcoming music video shoot. Osundairo, who is a co-founder of a business that provides nutrition and exercise advice for clients, agreed to provide Smollett with meal and exercise plans. He said he had no intention of charging Smollett, “because he was a friend, a good friend.”
At about the same time, Smollett showed Osundairo a racist letter he’d received at the Empire studio, Osundairo said, but Smollett didn’t elaborate on why he showed him the letter.
On January 25, 2019, Osundairo received a series of text messages from Smollett. The brothers were leaving for a trip to Nigeria soon, and Smollett wanted to know when they were going. Osundario told him they were leaving on the evening of January 29, 2019, and he asked Smollett why he wanted to know.
“Might need your help on the low. You around to meet up and talk face to face?” Smollett replied via text.
Osundairo traveled to the Empire studio to meet with Smollett. They ended up in Smollett’s car. “He asked me if he could trust me. I replied and said ‘Yes,’” Osundairo said. He said Smollett was upset that the studio wasn’t taking the hate mail seriously.
“He explained that he wanted me to fake beat him up,” Osundairo said. “He told me that we would need another person to fake beat him up. He mentioned could my brother do it?”
When they arrived back at Osundairo’s home, Olabinjo Osundairo was there. He got into the car, and Smollett laid out the plan to him, too, Abimbola Osundairo said. Smollett told them the racial and anti-gay slurs to use during the attack. He told them to mention Empire, and to yell “MAGA,” he said. Abimbola was to punch and fight with Smollett, while Olabinjo was to pour a chemical on him and put the noose on his neck. Abimbola Osundairo said he was a closer friend to Smollett than his brother was, and Smollett wanted him to do the punching – specifically to pull his punches so Smollett wouldn’t be hurt badly.
“He wanted me to do the punching specifically, because he trusted me,” Abimbola Osundairo told the jury. He also said Smollett gave him a $100 bill to buy the supplies for the attack.
Abimbola Osundairo told the jury that the initial plan was to stage the attack at about 10 p.m. on January 28, 2019, a Monday night. On Sunday morning, they did a dry run, driving in Smollett’s car through Smollett’s neighborhood. He said Smollett pointed out the staircase near his apartment where the staged attack was to occur, and they drove past it at least three times.
Smollett, he said, pointed out a police camera he expected to capture footage of the attack.
“He explained that he wanted to use the fake attack, or the camera footage, for media,” Osundairo told the jury.
At the end of the dry run, Osundairo said Smollett gave him a check for $3,500. The memo line on the check said it was for a five-week nutrition and workout system.
“I thought the money was for the meal plan and the exercise program, and also for the fake attack,” Osundairo told the jury, adding that the most he’d ever been paid for a nutrition or exercise plan was $100.
After the dry run, Smollett flew to New York, but was expected back in Chicago by 9 p.m. on the January 28, the night of the planned attack, Osundairo said. But Smollett’s flight was delayed several hours. Smollett called Osundairo several times throughout the night, and provided additional updates on his flight status via Instagram messages, Osundairo said. They ended up pushing the staged attack back four hours, until 2 a.m. on January 29.
Osundairo said that Smollett told the brothers not to use ride-share services to get directly to the area of the planned attack because they can be tracked, and he instructed them not to bring their phones, “so we don’t drop and lose them.” Osundairo said they ended up taking an Uber partway to the scene and then a taxi the rest of the way, to Smollett’s neighborhood.
“We didn’t want to be seen taking a taxi or a ride share directly to the attack location,” he said.
Osundairo described that night as “one of the coldest days in Chicago in quite a while.” He said if he didn’t have a promise to keep, there was “not a chance” he would have been outside.
Osundairo said he and his brother got to Smollett’s neighborhood early. His brother had the rope and the bottle of bleach, he said, and he wore a red MAGA-style ball cap.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb played video from several security cameras of the two brothers walking around the neighborhood prior to the attack, and Osundairo pointed out their movements to the jury using maps and photographs.
Osundairo said that during the attack, “I saw the headlights of a car. That spooked me, so I ran.” His brother followed. He said he saw a security guard, and “he flashed his light in my face.” They ended up catching a cab to Wrigleyville, near Osundairo’s apartment.
While at home the next day waiting to head to the airport, Osundairo said he saw a media report about the attack. He said he texted condolences to Smollett, as he said Smollett instructed him to do: “Bruh say it ain’t true. I’m praying for speedy recovery. Shit is wild.”
Smollett called Osundairo at least twice on his way to Nigeria, he said, once on the way to the airport, and once during a layover in Turkey.
“He asked us if we were still on our way to Nigeria,” Osundairo said. “I believed he wanted to see if we were still all right, and if we had had any troubles.”
Chicago police arrested the brothers when they arrived home from Nigeria on February 13, 2019, and held them in custody for about two days, Osundairo said. They also conducted a search of their apartment. It was then, Osundairo said, that his family got him a lawyer, and he agreed to cooperate with the police investigation.
Just before 3 p.m. on February 15, 2019, while Osundairo was still in police custody, he said he received a text message from Smollett: “Brother . . . I love you. I stand with you. I know 1000% you and your brother did nothing wrong and never would. I am making a statement so everyone else knows. They will not get away with this. Please hit me up when they let you go. I’m behind you fully.” He said Smollett never made a statement to clear him or his brother.
Earlier Wednesday, the first two Chicago detectives on the case testified that Smollett refused to allow them to use his cellphone to further their investigation, and he declined to provide them with his medical records or a DNA swab.
They also said that on several occasions Smollett described one of his attackers as white or pale-skinned. Even though the attackers wore ski masks, “Mr. Smollett had told me that the open eye area allowed him to see the skin around the attacker’s eyes and the bridge of the attacker’s nose,” Detective Kimberly Murray told the jury.
Smollett expressed surprise when he realized police had the Osundairos in custody in connection with the attack, Detective Robert Graves told the jury.
“He said it can’t be them, they’re black as sin,” Graves said, noting later on cross-examination that the statement hadn’t been recorded.
Graves said Smollett was the first victim in his nearly 30-year career who refused to provide a phone or medical information to investigators. Defense lawyers suggested that Smollett was reluctant to provide his phone records, medical records, and DNA sample because of privacy concerns unique to a celebrity.
“In your years as a detective, how many of your victims have been celebrities?” lead defense lawyer Nenye Uche asked Graves, who did not have an answer.
Smollett is facing six disorderly-conduct charges for allegedly staging the hate crime. Should he be found guilty, he could face up to three years in prison but may also be let off with community service and probation.
The defense is expected to cross-examine Abimbola Osundairo on Thursday morning.