Accused of lying to police, former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett takes the stand

CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett took the witness stand Monday at his trial on charges of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself and lying to Chicago police about it. The actor who starred on the TV show “Empire” shared his account of what happened in January 2019 in an attempt to refute damaging testimony from two brothers who testified last week.

The brothers said Smollett, who is gay and Black, orchestrated the hoax to get publicity, giving them $100 for supplies and instructing them to place a noose around his neck and yell homophobic slurs. They also said Smollett 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.

Smollett’s lawyers also have argued that Chicago police rushed to judgement when they brought charges against Smollett and suggested a third person may have been involved in the attack.

On the witness stand Monday, Smollett told the jury how he grew up in a close-knit family of six children and started performing as a child actor before getting more into music. He said he “came to terms with my sexuality” in his early 20s, when he got involved in charity organizations, including a group that fights AIDS in the Black community.

He said he auditioned for a role on “Empire” of a singer who is gay because he had never seen a Black man portrayed that way.

Prosecutors say Smollett staged the attack because he was unhappy with the “Empire” studio’s response to hate mail he received. The letter including a drawing of a stick figure hanging by a noose, with a gun pointed at it, and the word “MAGA” — an apparent reference to then-President Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.” The Osundairo brothers testified that Smollett told them to yell “this is MAGA country” during the fake assault.

Brett Mahoney, who produced “Empire” in Chicago, testified earlier Monday that Smollett called him after the hate mail was sent to the set.

“We were obviously all very upset about the letter,” Mahoney said, adding that law enforcement was contacted, and the letter turned over to authorities. He said Smollett agreed to added on-set security but didn’t want anyone following him home because he felt it was too intrusive.

Also Monday, security guard Anthony Moore said that around the time of the alleged assault, he saw a person on the ground at the end of the block and two men running, one of whom was white. Moore said he told police what he saw, but when he was later questioned by the special prosecutor, he felt pressured to change his story. Moore testified that he signed a statement that said the person was “possibly” a Black man, but that he felt “pressure and threatened to put something out there that I didn’t see.”

Under cross-examination, Moore said he only saw the man for one to two seconds. He also said he thought the men were fooling around, and that the two men were laughing as they ran by him.

Smollett, 39, is charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct for making what prosecutors say was a false police report about the alleged attack — one count for each time he gave a report — to three different officers. The class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said if Smollett is convicted, he likely would be placed on probation and ordered to perform community service.