On opening day of the Jussie Smollett trial, the court heard how Jussie Smollett hatched a “secret plan” to concoct a hoax hate crime against himself.
Jussie Smollett told police in January 2019 that he was attacked by two men who shouted pro-Trump slogans and tied a noose around his neck but his defense lawyers told the trial that their client was “a real victim”. Smollett has denied wrongdoing.
Authorities allege that Smollett paid two Nigerian-born brothers $3 500 to carry out the attack to promote his career because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on the TV show Empire.
Smollett has claimed the payment was for one of the brothers to work as a personal trainer.
The actor – who was written out of Empire amid the fall-out from the alleged hate crime hoax – was indicted by a special prosecutor in Illinois last year on six counts of lying to the police.
During opening arguments on Monday, special prosecutor Dan Webb argued that the actor had “developed a secret plan that would make it appear that there was actually a hate crime that actually occurred against him by supporters of Donald Trump”.
He said he conducted a “dress rehearsal” with the two brothers, and directed them to shout racist and homophobic slurs at him, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“He told them to use a rope to make it look like a hate crime,” Webb told the court.
The two brothers accused of carrying out the attack – Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo – are both expected to take the witness stand. Both men had worked as extras on Empire.
Smollett’s defence lawyer, Nenye Uche, denied the prosecutor’s arguments, saying that his client “is a real victim” of a “real crime”, according to AP News.
In court, Smollett’s lawyer argued that the brothers attacked the actor because they did not like him. He also suggested that a third attacker was involved.
If convicted, Smollett faces a prison sentence of up to three years.
Sources: BBC, Yahoo
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