Accused Of Lying To Police, Former Actor Jussie Smollett Takes Stand
Newsy
The former actor, who is accused of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself, will share his account of what happened in January 2019.
Jussie Smollett took the witness stand Monday at his trial where he is facing charges accusing him of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself and lying to Chicago police about it.
The former actor from the TV show "Empire" will share his account of what happened in January 2019 in an attempt to refute damaging testimony from two brothers who testified last week. They said Smollett, 39, who is gay and Black, orchestrated the hoax to get publicity and paid them $3,500 to carry it out.
Defense attorneys have suggested the brothers, who are Black, were motivated to accuse Smollett of staging the hoax because they disliked the performer 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.
