Nigerian Brothers Break Silence on Jussie Smollett Hoax: ‘This Dude was a Super Villain,’ a ‘Fraud’

Actor Jussie Smollett listens as his sentence is read at the Leighton Criminal Court Build
Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool
Alana Mastrangelo

Abimbola (Abel) and Olabinjo (Ola) Osundairo, the Nigerian-born brothers who disgraced actor Jussie Smollett infamously paid to stage his fake hate crime in 2019, recently broke their silence on the incident, condemning Smollett as a “fraud” who “was like a super villain” when he tried to deceive the public so that he could become a “poster boy for activism.”

The brothers told Fox Nation in the new docuseries, Jussie Smollett: Anatomy of a Hoax, that it was “insane” to see Smollett continuing to lie and pretend to be innocent after the hate crime hoax.

“That’s when I really saw a different side of Jussie,” they said. “Like, dude, really? This is when I knew that this dude was like a super villain.”

Abel said “I thought [Smollett] was a good actor, but I also thought this guy’s a fraud. This guy is really just sitting here, just lying to these people. Lying through his teeth, and not caring. I think he shed a tear.”

“This dude crazy, man,” Abel added, laughing as he seemingly reminisced about an interview Smollett had with ABC News after the faux hate crime. “He shed a tear, man. This dude wild.”

Abel also admitted that he feels betrayed by the former Empire actor, who to this day, has never accepted accountability over the fake hate crime.

“I did feel betrayed by Jussie and what he had done,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t ready to say anything. Like, I was mute, and I didn’t want to say anything.”

The Osundairo brothers also said that after helping Smollett with his hoax, they flew to Nigeria, where they wondered if they had done a good job.

After being asked if they think they played “believable white supremacists,” Abel laughed, saying, “One hundred percent! Look at me.”

“We was in character the whole time,” Ola added.

Abel added that he had a sneaking suspicion police suspected them by the time they were flying back from Nigeria. And when the brothers got back to the United States, they would soon find that Abel was right.

“I felt like, the police was waiting for me,” Ola said. “That’s what I felt like. They’re releasing all these little bits of evidence, but they knew it was off. They just waiting for us to come back.”

Abel added that when he was getting off the plane, “the customs agent was checking everyone’s passport, and when they got to me, they pulled me aside.”

“Two big ass police officers came up — I was like damn, it’s over with. They got me,” he said. “The police did ask us what Jussie’s motive was, but Jussie did not really tell me a motive.”

Ola said Smollett “wanted to be the poster child for activism.”

“He wanted to be the hero for gay people, for black people,” Abel added.

In January 2019, Smollett had claimed he was physically attacked by two men wearing red hats who put a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him, and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him, before yelling, “This is MAGA country!” — in reference to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan.

During Smollett’s trial, prosecutors showed how he had gone through extraordinary lengths to stage the attack against himself, and how he hired and paid the Nigerian brothers $3,500 to carry out the attack.

In December 2021, a Chicago jury found Smollett guilty on five of six charges. In March 2022, the disgraced actor was sentenced to 150 days in Cook County jail, 30 months of probation, pay a restitution of $120,106, and a fine of $25,000. Days later, Smollett was released from jail after his lawyers filed for him to be released as he appeals his conviction.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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