by Matthew Hendrickson and Andy Grimm at Chicago Sun Times
A Lake View man said Jussie Smollett asked him to “fake beat him” and even suggested he use an anti-gay slur and say “MAGA” during the staged homophobic and racist attack.
“I was confused. I looked puzzled. He [Smollett] explained to me that he wanted me to fake beat him up,” testified Abimbola Osundairo, who met Smollett while he worked as an extra on “Empire” in 2017.
Osundairo, 28, told Special Prosecutor Dan Webb Wednesday that he and Smollett had a brotherly bond and that he would procure drugs for the actor while Smollett would help Osundairo with his budding acting career.
“We became good friends. I would say I would call him my brother,” Osundairo said of the friendship.
So when the former “Emipire” star made the peculiar request to Osundairo and Osundairo’s real brother in the winter of 2019, “I agreed to do it, because more importantly, I felt indebted to Jussie… I also believed he could help further my acting career,” Osundairo said.
Osundairo said Smollett texted him on Jan. 25, 2019, saying, “Might need your help on the low.”
Later, when the two were in a car, Osundairo said Smollett asked if he could trust him. Smollett then complained that the TV studio didn’t take hate mail he received seriously and “proceeded to tell me that he wanted me to beat him up,” Osundairo said.
The pair then drove to the Osundairo family’s North Side home where Osundairo’s brother, Olabinjo Osundairo, joined them in the car.
Smollett, who didn’t know Olabinjo Osundairo as well, went on to ask him if he could trust him too, Abimbola Osundairo said.
Then, “We went over the details of what he wanted us to say and do,” Abimbola Osundairo said.
Abimbola Osundairo said Smollett told the siblings that they should tie a noose around his neck, pour bleach on him and run away in the midst of the fake attack.
As the trio drove around for a bit, Smollett also told “us we would need to purchase gasoline, we would need to purchase a rope, gloves, a ski mask and a red hat,” Abimbola Osundairo said.
Two days before the Jan. 29, 2019 incident, Abimbola Osundairo said the three choreographed the fake attack, which Smollett said he wanted captured by a nearby surveillance camera.
Smollett “explained that he wanted to use … the camera footage for [the] media,” Abimbola Osundairo testified.
The recorded footage didn’t include the alleged staged crime but did help Chicago police identify the Osundairos.
Olabinjo Osundairo is also expected to take the stand against 39-year-old Smollett who has been charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly lying about being attacked…
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