Brothers sue Smollett's lawyers for defamation

(23 Apr 2019) Two brothers who say they helped Jussie Smollett stage a racist and homophobic attack against himself filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the "Empire" actor's attorneys, alleging that they repeatedly asserted publicly that the brothers carried out a real, bigoted attack on Smollett despite knowing that wasn't true. A lawyer for Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the brothers. It names Mark Geragos and his law firm as defendants. The suit contends that even after police and prosecutors alleged that the Jan. 29 attack was staged and after all charges were dropped against Smollett, Geragos and his firm continued to say publicly in widely reported statements that the brothers "led a criminally homophobic, racist and violent attack against Mr. Smollett," even though they knew that wasn't the case. The lawsuit says that the lawyers' repeated statements that Smollett told the truth all along and that the brothers were lying caused them "significant emotional distress," and made them feel unsafe and alienated them from the local community. The brothers didn't appear at a news conference their attorneys held Tuesday, but they issued a statement, saying "We have sat back and watched lie after lie being fabricated about us in the media only so one big lie can continue to have life. These lies are destroying our character and reputation in our personal and professional lives." The lawsuit doesn't specify an exact amount of money the brothers are seeking, only that would it be more than $75,000 for "appropriate compensatory damages, punitive damages and costs" stemming from the alleged defamation. Geragos didn't immediately reply to messages seeking comment about the lawsuit. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...