Two brothers who say they helped Jussie Smollett stage a racist and homophobic attack against himself sued the Empire actor’s attorneys on Tuesday, accusing them of defamation by continuing to insist publicly that the brothers carried out a real, bigoted attack on Mr. Smollett despite knowing that was untrue.
Abimbola (Abel) Osundairo and Olabinjo (Ola) Osundairo said in a joint statement issued after their lawsuit was filed in federal court in Chicago that Mr. Smollett’s legal team has spread false accusations that have hurt their reputations and undermined their career prospects.
“We have sat back, and watched lie after lie being fabricated about us in the media only so one big lie can continue to have life,” they said. “These lies are destroying our character and reputation in our personal and professional lives.”
In their lawsuit, the Osundairos contend that even after prosecutors dropped the charges against Mr. Smollett despite saying they believed they could prove the attack was a hoax, Mr. Smollett’s attorneys kept saying in interviews that the Chicago-born brothers “led a criminally homophobic, racist and violent attack against Mr. Smollett.”
“Mr. Smollett’s attorneys, faced with an outraged public, did not retreat after their success [in getting charges dropped]. Instead, they doubled down the lawsuit states,” states the lawsuit, which names celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, fellow lawyer Tina Glandian and Mr. Geragos’s Los Angeles-based law firm as defendants.
In a joint statement, Mr. Geragos and Ms. Glandian called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and “a desperate attempt” by the brothers “to stay relevant and further profit from an attack they admit they perpetrated.”
“We look forward to exposing the fraud the Osundairo brothers and their attorneys have committed on the public,” they added.
Mr. Smollett, who is black and gay, has stood by his account that he was attacked in downtown Chicago early on Jan. 29 by two masked men who beat him, shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, and looped a rope around his neck. He said his attackers also shouted slogans in support of U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a news conference, the brothers’ lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, said that the Osundairos regret their involvement with Mr. Smollett and decided to tell the truth when confronted by investigators in mid-February.
“We’re going to make sure that the lies and malice attacking our city, our police department and my two clients are met with truth and healing,” she told reporters. The brothers did not attend the news conference.
Prosecutors have said that Mr. Smollett’s friendship with Abimbola dated back several years, and that Mr. Osundairo had served as a stand-in for a character named “Kai” on Empire. Ola also appeared as an extra on the show, prosecutors said.
In their lawsuit, the Osundairos say the defamation by Mr. Smollett’s lawyers has caused the brothers “significant emotional distress”, and made them feel unsafe and alienated from the local community. It doesn’t specify an amount of money they are seeking, but says it would be more than US$75,000 in compensatory and damages, and other costs.
The Osundairo brothers, who are of Nigerian descent, testified before a grand jury days before Mr. Smollett was charged, saying Mr. Smollett paid them US$3,500 to help stage the attack. They contend in their suit that Mr. Smollett took advantage of the their aspirations to have TV and movie careers.
“Mr. Smollett used his clout as a wealthy actor to influence Plaintiffs, who were in a subordinate relationship to him and were aspiring to ‘make it’ in Hollywood,” the lawsuit contends.
The lawsuit also states that Ms. Glandian “inferred” during an interview on the podcast Reasonable Doubt this month that Abimbola “engaged, at least briefly, in homosexual acts” with Mr. Smollett. The filing says that’s false, that Mr. Osundairo is heterosexual and to say otherwise could put him and his family in danger in Nigeria.
“Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria, which can result in 14 years of imprisonment,” the lawsuit asserts. “If the accused is married, the punishment is death by stoning.”
In the weeks after the alleged attack, police arrested the Osundairo brothers on suspicion of assaulting Mr. Smollett but released them without charges. A police spokesman said the two were no longer considered suspects and that investigators had new evidence after questioning them.
About a week after police questioned the brothers, Mr. Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct and accused of making a false police report about the attack. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office abruptly dropped the charges in March, angering the police and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said Mr. Smollett had dragged Chicago’s name “through the mud” and that the decision to drop the charges was “a whitewash of justice.”
The city has since sued Mr. Smollett, seeking repayment for the costs of investigating the case.