US Actor Jussie Smollett gets testy during criminal trial

The former Empire star lost his cool during his trial when he was questioned about his Instagram messages with one of his alleged attackers.

FormerEmpirestar Jussie Smollett got combative as he finished testifying on Tuesday in his alleged bogus-race-hate case, which was headed for closing arguments and potential jury deliberations Wednesday.

The prosecution finished its cross-examination after grilling the embattled snippy actor on the stand for another two and half hours, following his previous five hours of testimony the day before, the New York Post reports

Before the judge called it a day in anticipation of closing arguments, jurors also heard from the Lyft driver who ferried around the brothers Smollett allegedly hired to help him pull off the ruse.

Smollett, 39, lost his cool and got testy Tuesday when questioned by special prosecutor Dan Webb about some of his private messages on Instagram with Abimbola “Bola” Osundairo, one of the men he allegedly paid to orchestrate the hoax in January 2019.

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Jussie Smollett testifies at his court case. Picture: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP.

“Mr Webb, with all due respect you do not understand Instagram,” Smollett snapped at the prosecutor while getting hammered on the nature of the messages.

Webb shot back, “Look at me. I’m older. I tell you right now I do not understand Instagram. … I’m asking you if the messages I’m about to show you are between Bola and you.”

Prosecutors have suggested that Smollett had given Osundairo a heads up about the actor’s delayed flight at the time to get the alleged accomplice to put off the fake attack that they were planning for his return.

But Smollett insisted that the prosecution was not correctly portraying the conversation by not showing that the messages had been in response to public Instagram stories in which he lamented his long-delayed flight.

“You’re misrepresenting me to the jury and to the entire court, and it’s not fair,” Smollett said. “Without showing the actual Insta stories that I posted, they’re not getting the full story so they don’t understand.”

Director and Empire creator Lee Daniels shares a screengrab showing Jussie Smollett’s injuries from an alleged bias crime attack in Chicago on January 28, 2019. Picture: Lee Daniels

Cook County Judge James Linn intervened, chiding Smollett, “Just answer his questions without arguing.”

But Smollett doubled down that he had not personally reached out to Osundairo, who was his personal trainer at the time.

“There was no fake attack. There was no update to him, there was an update to my over 5 million followers,” he said.

At one point later, Webb described a missive from Smollett to Osundairo as “a private message — this is not some blast-out to your 5,000 followers.”

Smollett got testy when questioned about some of his private messages with Abimbola “Bola” Osundairo. Picture: Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images.

Smollett did not correct Webb on the woefully undercounted Instagram following.

Smollett’s lawyers have said the attack was “real,” while prosecutors allege that Smollett paid Abimbola Osundairo and his brother, Olabinjo, $3,500 to “fake beat him up” to get attention on the set of Empire.

While being cross-examined, Smollett admitted that he initially said his attackers were white but changed his story later to say they were “pale” because it was the “responsible” thing to do.

“I didn’t want to make the assumption that they were white. So I said, ‘Let me change that and just say that they were pale-skinned,’ ” he said, adding, “They could’ve been a white person, they could have been a pale someone else.”

Asked whether he called them white so the attack would get more attention, he fired back, “You’d have to ask someone who actually did a fake hate crime.”

Smollett — who wore a dark blue suit, white shirt and black tie — ranged from flippant to hostile with the prosecutor.

He became upset later when Webb aloud a message from the actor and did not censor the N-word.

The actor snapped at Special prosecutor Dan Webb during the trial. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP.

“Sir, can u just spell the word or not say it out of respect for every African American in this room?” Smollett said.

Webb apologised and let the actor read the messages to the jury instead, including one sent at 12:41am on the day of the attack.

“Was that 20 minutes to one?” the prosecutor asked, prompting the actor to mock him.

Smollett, who was grinning ear to ear, leaned forward and corrected him, replying, “Yes, 19 minutes to one.”

As the cross-examination continued, Smollett complained about the prosecutor’s line of questioning.

“It’s difficult to answer yes and no when little bits are thrown in there that aren’t true… when some things are true, and some aren’t, it’s hard to say yes or no,” Smollett said.

The actor tore into Webb when the prosecutor questioned him about why there were no messages to Osundairo about rescheduling his workout — despite the trainer not showing up after Smollett claimed a call to him after the attack was about arranging the session.

“There’s also no messages about an attack, yet I’m on trial for an attack didn’t do,” Smollett said.

Smollett’s combative testimony comes after he appeared calm while on the stand Monday as he described his rise to fame and claimed that there was “no hoax.”

Jussie Smollett leaves Court. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP.

The defence announced it had rested its case after calling its final witness, a Lyft driver who took Osundairo brothers toward downtown Chicago on the night of the alleged hate-crime hoax.

The driver testified that one of the brothers appeared to be talking to someone who wasn’t in the car and that the destination was changed after the men got in, indicating they had a cell phone on them.

The brothers had testified for the prosecution that Smollett told them not to bring their phones that night, and the defence was attempting to prove they did in fact have their phones.

Closing arguments from both sides are expected Wednesday, and the judge said the jury could begin deliberating the same day.

Smollett is facing six felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police, and if convicted, he faces up to three years in jail.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as US Actor Jussie Smollett gets testy during criminal trial