Last week, brothers “Bola” and “Ola” Osundairo testified that Smollett, who is Black and gay, directed and paid them to carry out a sham anti-gay and racist attack in order to garner sympathetic media coverage.
He said Bola Osundairo, who he called “Bon,” helped him get drugs, including cocaine.
“He kind of creeped me out,” Smollett told jurors.
Smollett, 39, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct, a charge punishable by up to three years in prison.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, testified in his own defense, and a jury ultimately acquitted him of all charges.
However, those two men — “Bola” and “Ola” Osundairo — were determined to be Smollett’s acquaintances from the “Empire” TV show.
Smollett’s defense, meanwhile, has argued he was actually attacked in a hate crime.
On Monday morning, an “Empire” executive producer testified that the show had received a threatening letter in the mail a week before the January 2019 incident.
The trial is the culmination of a case that began in January 2019 when Smollett told police he had been attacked.
Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury in March 2019, but Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office decided to drop those charges weeks later.
The incident effectively ended Smollett’s acting career.