Jussie Smollett Takes the Stand, Claims He Was Hesitant to Report Hate Crime: ‘I Am a Black Man in America’

Chicago, Ill. — Testifying in his own defense Monday, former Empire star Jussie Smollett forcefully denied that he had anything to do with staging a hoax hate crime against himself in January 2019 or that he knowingly reported false information to police after the attack.

Smollett said he considered Abimbola Osundairo, one of the alleged attackers, a friend, and didn’t believe he had been involved, even after police told them of their suspicions. He called the alleged attack “embarrassing,” and said he never wanted to report it to police, in part because it could hurt his career, but also because of his lack of faith in the police.

“I am a black man in America. I do not trust police. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth,” he said.

Questioned by his lead defense lawyer Nenye Uche, Smollett started his testimony talking about growing up as a working child actor in a middle-class family. He said he drifted away from acting for a while, taking work in restaurants and at retail stores, before rededicating himself to the craft. It was in 2014, he said, that he landed a starring role on Empire, playing the role of Jamal Lyon, a gay, black singer; a role that mirrored his own life.

Smollett said he earned about $28,000 per episode for the first ten-episode season, but by season five – his last season on the hit show – he was making $100,000 per episode, and doing some directing. “I was happy with my entire contract,” said Smollett, who was soft-spoken on the stand.  He called the show a “juggernaut of success,” and “the biggest show on television.”

But Smollett said he felt intense pressure because of his historic role as an openly-gay black man. That was one reason, he said, why he started doing a lot of recreational drugs, including marijuana and cocaine. “It got me away from everything else, so to speak,” he said.

It was during season four of Empire that he met Abimbola Osundairo, one of the two brothers he’s accused of conspiring with to stage the hoax hate attack against himself. Police and prosecutors say Smollett planned to have Abimbola Osundairo and his brother Olabinjo Osundairo attack him around 2 a.m. on January 29, 2019, directing them to call him racist and homophobic slurs, fight with him, pour bleach on him, hang a noose around his neck, and calling out “this is MAGA country,” to make it look like it was a hate crime carried out by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

Smollett testified that on the first night he met Abimbola Osundairo, they did drugs together at a nightclub, and then went to a gay bath house and made out. During his testimony last week, Osundairo denied that he was involved in any sort of sexual relationship with Smollett. Smollett said Osundairo often helped him to obtain drugs, and that he paid Osundairo for the drugs.

Smollett said he regretted his drug use. “I’m sitting here in front of a jury, in front of my mom having to explain it. Absolutely,” he told Uche.

Smollett said he barely knew Olabinjo Osundairo, whom the defense is attempting to paint as homophobic. “He kind of creeped me out,” Smollett said.

He said that when he was out at night with the Osundairo brothers, he and Abimbola Osundairo would sometimes sneak away, including to go to the gay bath house.

Smollett is expected to resume his testimony after lunch.

Earlier in the day, the defense called a security guard who was working at a nearby hotel the morning of the alleged attack. He said he saw two men ran past him that morning wearing ski masks, and that one of the men appeared to be white, which is what Smollett told authorities several times. Prosecutors are arguing the two men running from the scene were the Osundairo brothers, who are black. Defense lawyer Sean Wieden called the interaction “very, very fast” and a “2-second interaction.”

The defense also called Empire showrunner Brett Mahoney to the witness stand. He testified that when he learned that Smollett had been mailed a hateful letter about a week before the alleged attack, “we took it very seriously.” Prosecutors are arguing that Smollett believed the Empire studio didn’t take the hate mail seriously enough, and that he staged the attack to prove a point to studio leaders.