Actor Jussie Smollett’s attorney Tina Glandian suggested her client’s alleged attackers might have worn whiteface, in a Thursday interview on NBC’s “Today” show.
“You can put makeup on. … You know, I was looking up the brothers, and one of the videos that showed up actually was of the brothers in whiteface doing a joker monologue with white makeup on him. So, it’s not — it’s not implausible,” Glandian said, Mediaite reported.
WATCH:
Jussie Smollett’s attorney is now suggesting the Nigerian brothers wore “whiteface” when they attacked Smollett.
“Obviously, you can disguise that, you can put makeup on…” pic.twitter.com/zzvrlmBydI
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 28, 2019
The Nigerian Osundairo brothers alleged the “Empire” actor, 36, hired them to attack him in order to stage a fake hate crime. After the alleged attack, Smollett told police at least one of the attackers had white or pale skin, according to Glandian.
Authorities arrested and charged Smollett in February for allegedly filing a false police report, which claimed he was attacked, splattered with a chemical substance and put into a noose-like rope. The two attackers yelled, “This is MAGA country,” in the Jan. 29 attack, according to the actor.
Chicago police reportedly have photos of the Osundairo brothers and Smollett together in a car only days before the attack.
A grand jury indicted him on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct in early March. Smollett pleaded not guilty to the counts on March 14. Chicago prosecutors, however, dropped all 16 charges against the actor Tuesday.
Confusion about why they dropped charges as well as what happened during the alleged attack persists.
Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris said Tuesday she was “completely confused” after the charges were dropped. “To be perfectly honest with you, Wolf, I’m completely confused. I don’t understand. I don’t know the underlying evidence. There’s a sealed document, obviously. I don’t know. I’m at a loss,” she told journalist Wolf Blitzer in an interview.
Ola and Abel Osundairo have not made public remarks contesting Smollett’s claims of innocence after prosecutors dropped the charges.
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