The Wild Jussie Smollett Trial Is Like Something Out of a Stefon Sketch

The Jussie Smollet trial, so far, has been bonkers, and Smollet’s defense has been, uh, interesting. Last week, the prosecution introduced seven witnesses, five police officers and Bola and Ola Osundairo. The officers testified to the effect that Smollett was attacked by two men on the street who yelled racist, anti-gay and pro-Trump remarks, put a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him. They claimed, however, that it was all a hoax designed to raise Smollet’s profile and further his career. Bola and Ola Osundairo, the two men who were allegedly paid $3500 to attack him, backed up the story of the police officers, as did security footage from the scene on the day before, where it appeared that they had staged a dry run.

Smollet’s defense, meanwhile, continues to insist that Smollett was the victim of a hate crime, but they are trying to avoid talking about the actual incident and doing everything they can to discredit the police officers using social justice arguments, and the Osundairo brothers, reasoning that if they can undermine the brothers’ credibility, then the rest of the case will fall away.

However, the testimony being used to undermine the credibility of the Osundairo brothers also seems to support their narrative that they were paid to perpetrate a hoax. To wit: Bola Osundairo testified that he did not have a sexual relationship with Smollett. Smollett, however, testified that Bola supplied Smollett with cocaine and that the two engaged in sexual activity in a Chicago bathhouse. They engaged in sexual activity on several occasions, including another meet-up in an Atlanta bathhouse. “We went alone, we got a private room again. We made out a little bit, and this time we masturbated together,” Smollett testified.

Smollett’s testimony may have proven Bola Osundairo to be a liar, but it also seems to support the notion that Smollett had the kind of relationship with the Osundairo brothers that might lead one to perpetuate the alleged hoax. Smollett, though, suggests that the Osundairos may have attacked him in an effort to intimidate him into hiring them as his security. He also claimed that the $3500 he paid the brothers was for nutrition and training advice. Smollett claimed that he needed to lose weight because Lee Daniels — the creator of Empire — had called him fat.

My favorite thing today is Jussie Smollett testifying that Lee Daniels calling him fat was the inciting incident for everything 🤣🤣🤣

— Rae Sanni (@raesanni) December 6, 2021

Smollett claims that he was not forthcoming with the police after the incident because he didn’t trust the police because he didn’t think they believed his story (he testified that CNN’s Don Lemon texted him to tell him that the Chicago police doubted his story, which Don Lemon’s bosses at CNN may not want to hear). He claimed that he never told police he was attacked by men wearing MAGA hats, and that after the cops mentioned MAGA hats, his relationship with them continued to deteriorate.

Smollett is on trial for six counts of disorderly conduct. He faces up to three years in prison.