February 21, (THEWILL) – US-based Nigerian, Abimbola Osundairo, has claimed that American actor, Jussie Smollett, groomed him in anticipation of his request for him and his brother, Ola Osundairo, to beat him up.
The professional boxer, while narrating how the plan was birthed, disclosed that, unlike the public perception of the incident, Smollett asked him and his brother to rough him up, and he had been grooming him in preparation.
“I can 100% say that it was grooming and that he was trying to groom me for it”, he said.
In 2019, the ‘Empire’ actor had accused the Osundairo brothers of staging a racist, homophobic attack against him.
However, both the police and the Osundiaro brothers claimed it was a lie, asserting that Smollet staged the attack to promote his career.
A jury of six men and six women deliberated for more than nine hours after which Smollet was charged for disorderly conduct, a false crime report which is a Class 4 felony. He was sentenced in March 2022 to 150 days in county jail. He was released six days later on bond while his case was appealed. On December 1, 2023, Smollett’s appeal was denied by the Illinois Appellate Court in a 2–1 decision, and Smollett will be required to complete his 150-day sentence.
Osundairo made mention of an incident which took place at Smollet’s house, in which Smollet had allegedly attempted to get him to accept the services of a male masseuse. A service Osundairo promptly refused because he suspected foul play.
“I was with him in his house which has two bedrooms and he had hired a male masseuse and had paid for two of us,” he began.
“And I told him I’m good, cuz I know that y’all are on some other shit and y’all want to do something. So I’m not falling into that. You’d see it in the messages they leaked that I said no I don’t wanna do it. Sometimes people refuse to look at that. They choose to believe that something had happened between us because I was hanging out with a gay man.”
Osundairo also narrated how the assault incident came to be, stating that even though he and the actor had been friends for years, Smollett’s request was still confusing.
“He was a good friend. We had been friends for three, four years and he trusted me and confided in me and he asked me to beat him up randomly and that was confusing. We were in his car and he says ‘I want you to beat me up.’ a
“And that’s something nobody ever says. We were smoking weed and I thought maybe he was high,” he said.
He continued: “Then he says it again and explains what he wants me to do and tells me that ‘I’d need someone to help me do it.’ He then asked if my brother would help and I said ‘hell yeah my brother would do it.’ And that’s how it happened. It was not elaborately planned, so when he told us, it was on like January 26th, and we did the fake attack on the 29th, so it was quick.”
Osundairo noted that the actor never told him and his brother the exact reason he wanted them to beat him up. But he referred to a threatening letter he once received containing slurs and death threats, adding that the movie studio was not taking the threat seriously enough.
When asked why he agreed to the setup, Osundairo said: “I agreed to it because my brother and I are professional actors and boxers. So in acting, it’s about who you know. So we thought rubbing shoulders with him could get us to move up in that industry. To curry favour with him.”
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
