New Footage Shows Jussie Smollett Walking Past His Attackers Before Attack

UPDATE 1:45 PM:

Jussie's camp told TMZ, the new footage is edited together and doesn't have a time stamp. They pointed out that at no time do you see Jussie and the brothers on camera passing each other.

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Original Story:

The plot thickens.

On Tuesday (July 2), new footage, found by Matt Finn of Fox News, surfaced showing Jussie Smollett and his attackers —the Osundairo brothers — having multiple close encounters before the alleged attack went down. However, the alleged pre-attack walk-bys did not result in violence.

In the video, shared by TMZ, the brothers are shown walking on an empty, icy street near Jussie's apartment building an hour prior to the 2 AM attack on January 29. A short while later, Jussie is shown walking in the opposite direction, on the same street, but for some reason, he's walking in the middle of the street, instead of on the sidewalk.

Footage additionally captured from a loading dock showed the brothers walking past the area and then 25 seconds later, Jussie is shown walking past the same loading dock, but in the opposite direction (See the footage HERE)

As TMZ pointed out, since no one else was on the street, "it's virtually impossible the three men didn't see each other," which would mean Abel and Ola Osundairo had at least two opportunities prior to their actual 2 AM attack to legitimately attack Jussie. "Why would they wait and wander the streets on a night when the temperature was around -21" degrees?

The Osundairo brothers' attorney told Fox News, per TMZ, that the footage shows the brothers arriving early to the alleged "planned attack" location and them "milling around killing time" before the allegedly scheduled hoax attack took place.

Last month, the Chicago Police Department released almost 70 hours of footage related to Jussie Smollett's alleged hoax hate crime investigation. The footage included video of police arriving at Jussie's apartment following the alleged attack. In the video, he is shown wearing a noose around his neck, which he claimed his attackers used in the racially motivated attack.

As previously reported, Jussie claimed he was assaulted by two men wearing ski masks. He said he had just arrived in Chicago from New York and made a late-night run to a Subway when someone yelled: "Aren't you that f**got 'Empire' n**ga?" He claimed the two attackers, later identified as the Osundairo brothers then proceeded to jump him, put a rope around his neck and pour bleach on him. Jussie additionally claimed his attackers shouted, "this is MAGA country!"

Jussie was later accused of staging the January hate crime against himself for attention and monetary gain. While he was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for the alleged lie, the 37-year-old Empire star was cleared of all charges in connection to the case in March.

However, on June 21, a judge announced on that a special prosecutor has been appointed to Jussie's case to review the way prosecutors handled it and its dismissal. "If reasonable grounds exist to further prosecute Smollett, in the interest of justice the special prosecutor may take such action," said the judge.

Photo: Getty Images


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