Despite being propelled to immediate and immense national fame because of the hit show “Empire,” outcast Jussie Smollett nevertheless suffered from delusions of grandeur. He desperately desired more. Smollett thirsted for “hero” status.
“He wanted to be the poster boy for activism. He wanted to be the hero for gay people,” Abimbola Osundairo said in a video given to Newsweek ahead of the premiere of the docuseries to air on Fox Nation on Monday, March 13.
The Osundairo brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo, are speaking for the first time since partaking in the faux beatdown of Smollett during the arctic-like conditions in Chicago in January 2019.
The debacle supplied the Osundairo brothers the level of fame that they had sought when they were chosen as extras in the blockbuster Fox series “Empire.” But they were now notorious rather than famous.
The Osundairo brothers returned to the scene of the crime for the first time to show how they conspired to fool the public that Smollett was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack by Donald Trump supporters.
“This is where we waited for Jussie to come before we attacked him,” Abimbola Osundairo, aka “Bola,” said while pointing to an empty spot on a Chicago street where a bench existed the night of the faked attack. “It was cold as b—s.”
The brothers stated Smollett told them where to stand specifically so that the security camera would record the so-called pummelling.
Once they spotted Smollett, they ran up on the actor and spewed “the famous slurs he wanted us to yell,” says Bola Osundairo. “This is MAGA country!”
Bola Osundairo added that he threw a soft punch that landed.
“He wanted to make it look like he fought back. That was very important for him,” he says before explaining how he gave Smollett a bruise to make it look like he got beat up.
“That’s when I came around with the bleach,” his brother Olabinjo, aka “Ola,” added.
The Smollett scheme quickly unraveled and, in February 2019, Smollett was charged with orchestrating the stunt. Prosecutor Kim Foxx eventually dropped the charges in March 2019.
The lie, however, had reverberated from Chicago City Hall all the way to the Trump White House. Therefore, Smollett was charged a second time, and in December 2021, he was convicted on five counts of felony disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to five months in jail along with stiff fines. Smollett’s attorney filed an appeal in March 2023.
Because of Smollett’s theatrics, the “Empire” series, which had already peaked and was starting on its downward arch, then fizzled out like a wet firecracker and was unceremoniously canceled a year earlier than planned.
