Jussie Smollett finally tells jury his version of attack that prosecutors allege he orchestrated on himself

CHICAGO — At first, when someone yelled out at actor Jussie Smollett on the street one frigid night in January 2019, he thought nothing of it.

All they shouted was the name of his show: “Empire,” Smollett testified Monday. That happened all the time.

Then, he told jurors, he heard more, including racial and homophobic slurs, he said. That got his attention and he turned around, infuriated, to see a hulking man in a ski mask coming toward him.

“He hits me right here,” Smollett said, pointing to his eye. “… I would like to think that I landed a punch but I know that I certainly threw one.”

Over nearly six hours of testimony, Smollett — steady-voiced and calm — maintained that he had, in fact, been the victim of a hate crime attack, that he had not sought out any publicity for it, and that he never lied to police.

His testimony is the centerpiece of the defense case at his trial that entered its fifth day Monday. Later this week, jurors will be tasked with deciding a credibility contest: Who is more believable, Smollett, or the Osundairo brothers, who told prosecutors they helped Smollett fake an