Jussie Smollett Got A Text From An Osundairo Brother After Attack: ‘Say It Ain’t True’
Jussie Smollett got a text from one of the brothers accused of staging the shocking attack with the actor wishing him well and confirming that the news was true. According to Page Six, Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo sent Smollett a message shortly after he was allegedly assaulted.
“Bruh say it ain’t true,” he wrote on January 29. “I’m praying for speedy recovery. S**t is wild.”
The Empire actor says he was attacked near his Chicago apartment earlier this year. He says that two men wearing Make America Great Again hats assaulted him, put a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical that smelled like bleach on him. He says that they shouted racist and homophobic statements at him during the attack.
Shortly after the assault, Chicago police said that they had reason to believe that it had been staged by Smollett and pointed to two brothers who had acted in the show as possible accomplices. The Osundairo brothers appeared in a surveillance video taken just before the attack took place in the back of a taxi with their hoods around their heads and tied tightly around their faces. While the night was particularly chilly in Chicago when the alleged assault took place, some say this is evidence that they were trying to hide their faces.
Prosecutors abruptly dropped the charges against the actor, shocking people like former mayor Rahm Emanuel and the head of the Chicago police department, who felt that the actor should face a trial for allegedly making a false police report over the attack.
Now, a judge has appointed a special prosecutor to look into the decision to dismiss the charges against the actor. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx stands accused of mishandling the Smollett case, according to The Chicago Tribune.
“There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it floundered through uncharted waters, and it ultimately lost its bearings,” the judge said. “… The unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrants the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.”
“What was intended by Ms. Foxx, and what indeed occurred, was an unconditional legal recusal,” the judge added. “… Essentially, she announced that she was giving up all of the authority or power she possessed as the duly elected chief prosecutor; she was no longer involved.”
Chicago police release hundreds of files from investigation into actor Jussie Smollett's claim he was attacked by two men in January. https://t.co/YZsoBU9wD7
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 25, 2019
Osundairo’s message was part of a larger release of documents from the Chicago police.
