Embattled Empire star, Jussie Smollett, is finally offering his version of several circumstances Chicago investigators were publicly holding up as proof of his guilt, in the now infamous homophobic hoax heard around the world. Sources tell TMZ Jussie’s particularly peeved at Chicago Police Superintendent, Eddie T. Johnson, for grandstanding to the public and turning the case into something personal, instead of just conducting a good and thorough investigation into the matter.
Jussie says the text he sent to Abel Osundairo four days before the attack where he said to Abel… “Might need your help on the low. You around to meet up and talk face to face?”, wasn’t about a scam attack, but about getting Abel to smuggle a banned steroid into the country when he and his brother, Ola Osundairo, returned from a trip home to Nigeria. No mention of the name of the steroid, but Jussie’s camp points to Abel’s web search for “banned substances” after the text as proof Jussie’s claim about the text is legit.
In defense of Jussie they go on to cite the fact that Jussie called Abel after the alleged hoax attack. Police say that call was to further the sick conspiracy that Jussie and the Osundairo brothers had going, but Jussie’s people insist it was just a heads up to Abel that police would soon be reaching out to him – no conspiracy at all.
Still one has to wonder, if Jussie didn’t know Abel had anything to do with the awful attack he had just endured, of all the people in his phone, why would he call Abel after the event? That call would seem fishy to anyone, and indeed it did to Chicago police.
There’s also been video uncovered by a FOX news personality recently that seems to show both Jussie and the two brothers walking only 25 seconds apart from each other, on the same side of the street, but in opposite directions. A very interesting circumstance being that there was no violence detected in the frames, and somewhat suspicious since we know they were all very well acquainted with each other. Of this new discovery, Jussie’s rep says it simply proves they weren’t together, that’s all.
Oh, and to the mystery of how the description of his alleged assailants being white came about? Jussie swears that came from a security guard at a nearby Sheraton hotel – the guard described them as white. No explanation as to how those words got into Jussie’s mouth though, when he was in front of police just after the attack.
Jussie Smollett has a career to revive, a career that was on fire for a long stretch with the hit show Empire. But that’s all over now, and he is squarely to blame in most everyone’s eyes, most importantly, executive producer Lee Daniels’ eyes, who’s said as much. So for Jussie, it’s public image revitalization, phase one. Maybe these points will give his fans something to chew on while the once iconic actor tries to build anew.
Until the next time it drips…
