+
upworthy

fox

The Jussie Smollett case left everyone's heads spinning back in January when the (former) Empire actor claimed to have been the victim of a horrific homophobic and racist hate crime, in which he said two attackers tied a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him while shouting racist and homophobic slurs and yelling "MAGA country." But then in a wildly dramatic turn, the actor was arrested and charged with making the whole thing up. To make matters even more confusing, Chicago prosecutors then decided to drop all 16 charges against him just a few days after he was indicted for allegedly faking a hate crime. The turn of events left everyone with a lot more questions than answers. And finally, we have some answers, after nearly 500 previously sealed court documents from the case were opened to the public this week, Vulture reports.


Here are the 9 most bonkers details we have learned about this extremely bizarre and upsetting case:

1) This is Smollett's full list of documented injuries: abrasions on his face; redness on his neck; soreness in his back, shoulder, and ribs; and an "unspecified injury" to his lower lip.

2) Prior to the attack, Smollett said he received a letter containing white powder that was mailed to the Fox studio where Empire was filmed. The Osundairo brothers, who testified in court that they were hired by Smollett to help stage the alleged attack, said that the actor was unhappy with how Fox responded to this letter.

3) According to police, Smollett changed his story about what happened on the night of January 29 when the attack allegedly took place. On February 14th, Smollett described one of the alleged attackers as "pale" and wearing a mask, but previously he had told police that the attacker was white. When police showed photos of Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who they had picked up as potential suspects, Smollett said they weren't the attackers because they were "black as sin."

4) According to the Osundairo brothers, Smollett offered to pay them $4,000 to stage the alleged hate crime. They told investigators that the actor asked only one one of them to assault him because he didn't trust the other one to "pull his punches." Ouch! The brother who allegedly hit Smollett said he was "careful" not to inflict too much damage on Smollett while punching him in the body. The other brother said he "began rubbing his knuckles into Smollett's face trying to bruise him without hurting him badly."

5) The brothers testified that Smollett allegedly punched back after being thrown to the ground.

6) According to the court docs, Smollett took investigators on a walk-through of the alleged crime scene. Police asked why his sweater didn't get dirty when he was thrown to the ground, and the actor explained it was because he fell on ice and snow.

7) After reporting the crime, Smollett refused to sign a medical release or turn his phone over to police, according to investigators. He was also reluctant to allow the rope he turned over as an alleged attack weapon to be swabbed for DNA.

8) The court documents reveal text conversations between Smollett and the Osundairo brothers that date back many months before the incident. In one of these convos, Smollett was allegedly trying to buy drugs, including "weed, molly or Whitney" (cocaine) from one of the brothers.

9) Smollett paid the brothers for drugs using Venmo, according to the court documents. He also used Venmo on "multiple occasions" to pay the brothers for "illicit activity." In one example, back in September 2018, cops accused Smollett of purchasing ecstasy from one of the brothers and listing it on Venmo as payment for "training."

According to Vulture, more details from the case will be made public over the next month, including video surveillance from the neighborhood in Chicago where the alleged incident took place. I think I speak for everyone when I say: OYYYYYYYYY.

This article originally appeared on SomeeCards. You can read it here.