How to fake a hate crime: Brothers in Jussie Smollett hoax speak to media for the first time
Fox Nation takes a deep dive into the Jussie Smollett hoax with a first-hand account from the brothers behind the fabricated hate crime.
Jussie Smollett's hoaxers-for-hire Abimbola "Bola" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo are speaking to the media for the first time since helping the "Empire" actor stage his hate crime in the early morning hours of a snowy January day in 2019.
"Everyone immediately thought ‘This is what Trump’s America is like," New York Post national correspondent Gabrielle Fonrouge said of the "hate crime" in the newly-released multi-part Fox Nation special, "Anatomy of a Hoax."
"You had people in MAGA hats chasing after a Black man in the night, tying a rope around his neck calling him racist slurs, calling him homophobic slurs," she added.
Fact, however, proved nothing about Smollett's story was true. So what really happened that night?
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The Osundairo brothers returned to the scene of the "crime" to give viewers insight into the fabricated event, detailing Smollett's intentions and plans to make the story believable.
Abimbola "Bola" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, two brothers who helped Jussie Smollett stage his hoaxed hate crime. (Fox Nation)
"I remember we was [sic] in character the whole time," Ola said in the Fox Nation episode, as Bola pointed to an empty Chicago sidewalk where the hoax transpired.
"This is where we waited for him to come before we attacked him," he said. "We got here with ten minutes to spare, and we had to plan our escape route, [we had to] survey the land."
Smollett's nearby apartment building stood tall above a flight of stairs designated as the attack site, a reflective glass building in an upscale neighborhood.
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Jussie Smollett was arrested and charged after fabricating a hate crime in Chicago in January 2019. (Nuccio DiNuzzo)
Smollett's story alleged that two White supremacist Trump supporters jumped and attacked him near the building that night, shouting racially insensitive slurs and homophobic remarks as they assaulted him physically.
He also alleged that one tied a rope around his neck.
The incident caught immediate media attention, with even Vice-President-to be Kamala Harris condemning it as an "attempted modern-day lynching."
Despite the consequential frenzy, the Osundairo brothers – and Smollett himself – were behind everything.
Former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett arrives at the Leighton Courts Building for the start of jury selection in his trial on November 29, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
"We made sure we got there at 2 a.m. sharp. On the dot," Bola said in the episode, noting that Smollett instructed him and his brother to come without phones.
"He said, ‘So we don’t lose them.' I don't know if that's really the reason, but you can deduce your own reason," Bola added.
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According to the duo, Smollett was "nowhere to be found" at 2 a.m. and, without a way to contact him, they were left waiting in below-zero temperatures for several minutes.
When he emerged moments later, the brothers jumped into action, shouting the very slurs and MAGA sympathies they said Smollett wanted them to shout.
The brothers told Fox Nation they ran across the street, shouting at Smollett before Bola threw the first "punch."
"I held the blow because I didn't want to hurt him, of course, so I made it look real, but I held it," Bola said. "Then we started tussling, moving around, and then I threw him to the ground.
"He wanted to make it look like he fought back. That was very important for him," he added.
Bola said the bruise commonly seen on Smollett's forehead after the "attack" was a byproduct of his own quick thinking, and that he twisted his knuckle into Smollett's skin to create the illusion that the "attack" had actually left a mark.
Ola followed up the fake assault by pouring the hot sauce bottle full of bleach onto Smollett's shirt and placing the infamous rope around his face, clarifying that he did not actually place it around his neck as commonly reported.
When asked why Smollett insisted on fabricating a hate crime against himself, the Osundairo bothers responded by saying the actor aspired to be a "poster child for activism."
To watch the full deep dive into the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax, subscribe to Fox Nation and stream "Jussie Smollett: Anatomy of a Hoax" today.