The two brothers who claim they were paid to participate in a staged hate crime targeting actor Jussie Smollett say they have “tremendous regret” for their involvement. Yesterday, an attorney for the Osundairo brothers released this statement:

I guess this is intended to generate additional sympathy for the brothers? As far as this story goes, they are definitely more sympathetic that Smollett. He was the ringleader. He (allegedly) concocted the plan. He’s the person who appears to have been motivated by some combination of greed and victimhood chic to carry out this hoax.

And yet, I can’t say I find the brothers all that sympathetic. After all, they did go along with this, apparently because Jussie was their famous buddy. They were members of his entourage who allegedly got him drugs. They should have said no to this but they didn’t want to risk losing the connection that brought some celebrity into their lives. And in the process, they created this hoax and then denied their involvement for 47 hours after they were arrested upon returning from Nigeria. All of it is understandable but it’s not very admirable.

I guess I’d like to hear the apology from their own lips. If they’re really sorry it’ll be apparent. But having their attorney release a statement doesn’t require much of them. Maybe they’re just trying to establish some expression of remorse in case they get charged themselves.

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All of this may matter because today NBC 5 in Chicago reports the defense plan being arrived at by Smollett’s attorneys is basically to attack the brother’s credibility as well as that of the police:

Smollett’s defense is expected to argue the check police have said was payment for the hoax attack was actually for training to help Smollett get in shape for a music video shoot, sources familiar with the case said.

Images of the check obtained by NBC 5 show a memo line that read “5 week nutrition/workout program (Don’t go).” The check was dated Jan. 23, six days before Smollett claimed he was attacked in Chicago…

There are also questions about the information police initially released in the case.

Supt. Eddie Johnson said Smollett misled investigators from the beginning by saying at least one of his attackers was white. That key detail was not included in the first police report, a subsequent community alert or Smollett’s own public statements. The detail wasn’t made public for several days following the alleged attack.

That last point is going to be a key one. I don’t see any way to argue Smollett was not involved if he told police his attacker was white. Based on the excerpt above it certainly sounds as if his defense team is gearing up to call the police superintendent (who is black) a liar.

But during his public interview on ABC, Smollett said: “It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black—I feel like the doubters would have supported me.” Smollett also indicated he could see the area around the attacker’s eyes and the bridge of their nose and that that was the basis of his description to the police. So he seems to have admitted already that he gave a description of his attacker as something other than two black men. How is his defense planning to explain that?