CHICAGO – Former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett kept in contact, in the hours leading up to his attack, with one of the brothers who allegedly helped him stage the fake assault, according to messages revealed in court Tuesday.
Smollett, 39, sent several private Instagram messages to Abimbola Osundairo as he waited at an airport to board a delayed flight from New York to Chicago right before the alleged attack in January 2019.
Prosecutors have suggested that Smollett sent the messages to help Osundairo and his brother, Olabinjo, time out the upcoming fake attack.
But the actor has said he was simply keeping Osundairo up to date on his flight because they planned to work out together that night.
“N—a this shit brutal af. Still on this damn runway,” Smollett wrote to Osundairo at 7:27 p.m. on Jan. 28, 2019.
Fewer than 15 minutes later, Smollet told Osundairo that he was “leaving in an hour supposedly.”
Then shortly after 10 p.m., the actor indicated to Osundairo that he had finally taken off.
“N—a I cant even express how annoying it is and then how happy I am to be in the air,” Smollett wrote.
In his final message sent at 12:41 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2019, or about 90 minutes before the alleged attack, Smollett wrote to Osundairo to let him know that he was back in Chicago.
“N—a finally made it just landed haha,” Smollett wrote.
Smollett testified Tuesday that he also shared information about his flight with public Instagram stories to all of his followers.
“There was no fake attack. … There was an update to my over 5 million followers,” Smollett testified.
When Smollett was asked about a phone call between him and Osundairo at 12:49 a.m. on Jan. 29., the actor said they discussed rescheduling their workout session for the next morning and that his exercise partner directed him to “eat four eggs” as part of his nutrition and fitness plan.
Osundairo testified last week that Smollett directed him and his brother to watch his Instagram story for updates on his flight status in order to surreptitiously coordinate the attack.
Smollett is charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct for making what prosecutors say was a false police report about the alleged attack.
His lawyers have argued that the attack was “real” and that the Osundairo brothers have accused Smollett of staging the crime for several reasons, including that they wanted to exploit the actor for money.
Prosecutors say Smollett pulled off the plan to get attention.
