Jussie Smollett tells jury he paid men for training advice, not to fake attack on himself

Jussie Smollett took the witness stand at his trial on Monday and told the jury that he wrote a $3,500 check to a friend for nutrition and training advice, not as payment for the man and his brother to help him stage a racist, anti-gay attack on himself.

The former Empire TV show actor testified over charges, which he denies, that he lied to Chicago police about an attack in 2019.

The brothers last week said he arranged a fake attack as a publicity stunt.

Smollett had said in January, 2019, that he was walking home in downtown Chicago around 2am when two men approached him, shouting racist and homophobic slurs, beat him up, poured bleach on him and looped a rope around his neck.

The police began investigating a hate crime but Smollett was later accused of staging the attack because he was unhappy at work and wanted to drum up publicity to help his career.

On Monday, Smollett, 39, told the jury how he grew up in a close-knit family of six children and started performing as a child actor before getting more into music.

He said he auditioned for a role on the show Empire of a singer who is gay because he had never seen a Black man portrayed that way.