Alleged Attackers in Jussie Smollett Case Insist They Were Paid for Training, Not Attack

TMZ reports that the $3500 check that Jussie Smollett paid Ola and bel Osundairo had “5 weeks training nutrition plan” written on the memo line, and that sources close to the Osundairo brothers say that the bothers were paid to train Smollett for an upcoming music video, not the “attack,” even though they admit that $3500 for five weeks of training may have been “a little high.”

The Osundairo brothers also told the grand jury this week that they had nothing to do with the threatening letter that was sent to Smollett eight days before the “attack.”

The Chicago Police claim that the $3500 Smollett paid the Osundairo brothers was to fake an attack on him. Smollett is being charged with federal disorderly conduct for filing a false report, a class four felony.

The cast of Empire thinks Smollett got the idea to fake an attack on him after hearing Empire creator Lee Daniels talk about how his cousin was attacked for being gay in a January 10th Instagram post, according to TMZ. Daniels also shared more details on the story on the set of the show.

Smollett has been removed from the rest of this season’s Empire episodes.