Jussie Smollett’s lawyer offered a new explanation as to why the actor ventured out into subfreezing temperatures the night he claims he was attacked by two racist Trump supporters.
In his original story, Smollett claims he went out for a bite to eat at a 24-hour Subway restaurant in Chicago at 2 a.m. on Jan. 29.
The openly homosexual Empire star claims he was on his way back to his condo when he was attacked by 2 men yelling racist and anti-homosexual slurs.
Smollett said men punched him, poured bleach on him and tied a noose around his neck. His Subway sandwich survived the attack.
Smollett was arrested on Feb. 20 after 2 brothers told police he paid them to help him stage an anti-Trump hate crime.
Among the evidence against Smollett were phone calls he made to the brothers an hour before and an hour after the staged hate crime.
In an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday, his attorney Tina Glandian confirmed that Smollett spoke to Abel Osundairo before and after the alleged attack that night.
According to The Blast, she said Smollett had been in contact with Osundairo about a training session for that night but his flight was delayed from New York City, so they pushed it back a day.
Police say that Instagram videos Smollett made while his plane sat on the tarmac were, in fact, coded messages to the brothers to let them know his flight was delayed.
Glandian claims the brothers told Smollett to make sure he ate properly, specifically he should eat four eggs at breakfast.
Glandian says Smollett told them he didn’t have any eggs at his apartment. So after he arrived in Chicago, he went out to buy eggs – at 2 a.m. – but the grocery store was closed. So he decided to go to Subway instead.
According to Glandian, that’s how the brothers knew where he would be that night.
She didn’t explain why the brothers would attack him an hour after telling him to make sure he ate properly.
“He … has been victimized much more by what’s happened afterwards than what happened that night,” she complained.
On Thursday, Smollett arrived back in Los Angeles after all charges were dropped against him in a bizarre turn of events on Tuesday.
When asked if he had anything to say to his fans, he said he loved his fans.
Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
