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Smollett, dressed in the same outfit he wore on day three of the trial - a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and a burgundy tie - testified for more than five hours and kept a cool demeanor while his lead defense attorney Nenye Uche peppered him with questions. “The moment I got beat I became a f-t who got his ass whooped.” I’m an actor, I want to play a boxer, I want to play a superhero, I want to blow stuff up,” he said. “I am also a well-known figure at that time and I’m an openly gay man. Smollett said if his creative director Frank Gatson hadn’t called the police, he would’ve never filed a report because as a black man in America, he doesn’t trust cops and he was also concerned about looking weak. He testified he was under the impression that the first attacker was white because he had used a racial slur and shouted, “MAGA country,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s supporters. Smollett claimed that he slipped and fought on the ground for about 30 seconds and then noticed a second person, who he believes kicked him, before watching both alleged assailants run away. “My character was a superstar, a pop star, a beloved GQ whatever, it was very important that I looked like a black Cary Grant.” “I’m not a character actor, you know, if I was a character actor maybe it’d be different,” he said. The actor said his face was important to his role as Jamal on Empire, which required him to look like a “black Cary Grant.” Smollett testified that he did drugs at a bathhouse and made out with one of the two brothers accusing him of staging a hate crime against himself. “I would like to think I landed a punch but I know that I certainly threw one,” said Smollett, who smiled and giggled in response to a follow-up about his hitting accuracy. Smollett stood up and acted out how his alleged attacker came at him and how he defended himself by trying to take a swing. They were dressed in dark clothes, a ski mask and I could only see this area,” he said from the witness stand, gesturing to his eyes. “This person felt significantly larger than me. What he saw when he turned around felt like “something out of Looney Toons adventures,” he testified. when he heard someone yell, “Empire!” and “f-t Empire n-r!” The actor, who is openly gay and black, described how he was walking home from a Subway chain to his apartment on a blistering night around 2 a.m. “There was no hoax,” Smollett told the court.
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The former “Empire” television star, 39, was called to testify in his own defense about the January 2019 attack and vehemently maintained his innocence on day five of his trial in Chicago criminal court. Trump calls Smollett’s false police report a ‘hate crime in reverse’ĬHICAGO - Jussie Smollett was defiant that there was “no hoax” when he took the stand Monday on charges that he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself in downtown Chicago. Jussie Smollett juror says panel didn’t buy his hate crime claimĮxperts say Jussie Smollett is in ‘matrix of arrogance’ as he awaits sentencing With Jamal being shot, he is the most obvious candidate.Sole black juror says Jussie Smollett’s noose claim ‘didn’t add up’ Empire actress, Gabourey Sidibe says that someone must die in the Season 2 finale just as someone (Vernon Turner) died in the Season 1 finale. The Episode 18 First Look Hints At Jamal’s DeathĪ first look at episode 18 confirms that someone will die during the season finale.
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However, one scene shows several family members looking somber while sitting in an area with many chairs. The preview focuses on other aspects of episode 18, including Jamal’s wedding and Rhonda confronting Anika about pushing her down the stairs while pregnant. Jamal Isn’t Featured In The Episode 18 PreviewĪfter a flashback to episode 17, Jamal is not seen in the the preview for episode 18, which is the finale for Season 2. Jamal appears to seize and go unconscious at that point. In episode 17, Jamal is conscious when he first arrives to the hospital however, once doctors begin to work on him, we hear a distinct flatline sound before he is taken to an operating room. However, there are already several clues that Jamal may succumb to his injuries. The end of Season 2 episode 17 had Empire fans everywhere asking “Did Jamal Lyon die?” The middle Lyon son was shot by Freda Gatz at the American Sound Awards and currently his fate remains unknown.