Brothers in Jussie Smollett Case Can Sue Over ‘Whiteface’ Comment: Judge

A judge has determined that the brothers at the center of Jussie Smollett’s hoax controversy have the leverage to sue one of the actor’s attorneys.

A ruling on Friday from U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland allows a defamation suit filed by Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo against attorney Tina Glandian to continue. The lawsuit will center around a specific comment made by Glandian during a 2019 Today show appearance, where she said that Chicago police failed to investigate a video where one of the brothers donned “whiteface doing a Joker monologue” as well as the idea that the brothers could have “put makeup on” to disguise their skin color.

“Taken in context, Glandian was asserting plaintiffs’ involvement in a racially motivated attack,” Rowland wrote in her decision, the Associated Press reported. “Explaining that the attackers were white, read in context, adds the implication that the attack was a hate crime.”

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is available.

A U.S. District Judge in Chicago ruled Friday that an attorney for Jussie Smollett might have defamed the two Black brothers who testified that they participated in a fake racist and homophobic attack on the actor when she suggested they had been wearing “whiteface.” Above, brothers Olabinjo Osundairo, right, and Abimbola Osundairo appear outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago on February 24, 2020.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File

Brothers in Jussie Smollett Case Can Sue Over ‘Whiteface’ Comment: Judge
Source: Gwapo Pinoys PH

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