6:37 p.m. ET, December 6, 2021
Smollett testifies Abimbola Osundairo repeatedly asked to be his security guard
From CNN's Bill Kirkos
(Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images)
Former
"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett took the stand in his ongoing criminal trial Monday in a high-stakes attempt to rebut charges that he staged a fake hate crime and lied to Chicago Police about it in January 2019.
Last week, brothers "Bola" and "Ola"
Osundairo testified that Smollett, who is Black and gay, directed and paid them to carry out a sham anti-gay and racist attack in order to garner sympathetic media coverage. Their testimony, as well as that of five Chicago police investigators, formed the core of the prosecution's case against Smollett.
But under oath Monday, Smollett offered testimony that suggested the brothers may have had other motivations at play.
Under direct examination, Smollett told defense attorney Nenye Uche that he hired Abimbola Osundairo, also known as "Bola," as his trainer after the man he had been using didn't return his call.
"Basically I turned to him and said you should be my trainer," Smollett told the jury. "He agreed."
Smollett continued, "I took my shirt off and showed him my belly…he (Bola) told me about an herbal steroid that was illegal here but he could get in Nigeria."
Smollett said he paid Bola $3,500 for training services, partly because he asked for it "upfront." He said he had paid other trainers $5,000 for similar services, telling the jury it was not unusual for actors to pay that much for personal trainers.
"Is your face important to you?" defense attorney Ucher asked.
"Very important," Smollett replied.
"I'm not a character actor," Smollett continued.
Calling the character he played on "Empire" a superstar, Smollett told the jury it was "very important I looked like a Black Cary Grant."
After a "hate letter" was sent to Smollett in the mail at the "Empire" studios in Chicago on Jan. 22, Smollett said Bola approached him about becoming his personal security guard, something the actor told the jury Bola had repeatedly asked him about in the past.
"I said it was annoying how they were basically going to have somebody with me and he said, "you should just let me be your security."
Smollett told the jury the issue became a "running theme."
"To me it became a running joke when he would say he was security every time we went out. It wasn't something that was going to be," Smollet said.
Smollett said following the "hate mail" incident, Bola began asking him more about the need for security. The actor also described being annoyed at the idea of always having a security detail around him.
"Around lunch time I would smoke my blunt, drive around the neighborhood of the studios. I don't want to be in someone's car," Smollett said.
"I don't need to be driven around like I'm like Miss Daisy," Smollett added.
Smollett told the jury that while driving around with Bola, there was never any discussion of planning a staged hate attack.
"Did you talk to him about some hoax?" Uche asked.
"No," Smollett shot back.
"Did you give him the check as payment for some silly hoax?" Uche then asked.
"Never," Smollett said.
Smollett said after he got home to Chicago on a flight from New York, he "rolled a blunt," then put on his knit sweater jacket and then left his apartment.
Smollett says he went looking for eggs to eat since his trainer, Bola, had told him to eat four eggs before planning to work out.
"I took a walk to the Walgreens but they were closed and I decided to walk to Subway," Smollett told the court.
Smollett said he knew that a polar vortex was two days away and that he saw other people walking around.
"I'm wearing a Chicago hoodie from the airport, white shoes and my indigenous people's knit sweater,” Smollett said.
"Did the owners or employees of this Subway help you plan some elaborate hoax?" Uche asked.
"No," Smollett responded.