The Nigerian brothers involved in the Jussie Smollett alleged staged attack continue to speak out.
Abel and Ola Osundairo, both of whom the Empire star allegedly paid to stage a “bogus” attack against him, first issued a public apology through their attorney over a week ago, but now have more evidence to back up their side of the story.
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On Monday, the Osundairo brothers’ attorney Gloria Schmidt sat down with Good Morning America and provided some insight on how her clients got mixed up in Jussie’s alleged elaborate scheme.
It’s been said the duo worked with Smollett as extras on FOX‘s Empire and trained at the same gym together. However, Schmidt says that their collective friendship wasn’t genuine, and described the 36-year-old star as “someone who was in a position of trust with my clients, who really just took advantage of them.”
She explains:
“They worked with Jussie, they had known him, they were friends with him. This was someone who the brothers thought could help their career. Obviously, Mr. Smollett has connections, he had a good position with Fox, so this was someone that they had trusted to consider their best interests.”
The attorney reiterated that Abel and Ola were paid for personal training by Smollett until he asked them for a favor.
“It’s unfortunately a very complicated relationship for them because if you are friends and I’m saying, ‘Hey, I am going to pay you for training, I am also asking you to do me a favor,’ … and the favor was to stage the attack.”
Talk about a bait and switch!
Perezcious readers, if you ever needed a serious reminder about being careful who you do favor for, this is one for ya.
It’s still unclear at this point if the brothers will face any charges, but it’s unlikely as they’ve expressed remorse and have cooperated with police from jump street.
As we wrote, on Friday, the Cook County grand jury indicted Jussie on 16 counts for “false report of offens”” — all class 4 felonies. If found guilty, the actor could face years in prison.
At the time, his attorney Mark Geragos released a statement saying, “Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption.”
Let’s not forget, Hollywood has also robbed him of that presumption too, with reports that all of the thespian’s career prospects have dried up…
All things considered, we’re not surprised. And it’s really hard to feel bad for the guy — especially if he made all of this up and dragged two innocent people into the process.
What do YOU guys think?
Are you tired of hearing about the whole thing? Or patiently waiting for the whole truth and for “justice” to be served to Jussie?
Sound OFF in the comments below!
[Image via Brian To/WENN/Instagram.]