CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago has ruled that comments made by Jussie Smollett’s attorney on national television three years ago that two Black brothers might have attacked the actor while in “whiteface” could be construed as defamation.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland allows the defamation lawsuit filed by Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to continue against Tina Glandian, Smollett’s Los Angeles-based attorney who made the controversial comments in an interview on the “Today” show on March 28, 2019, a few days after the initial charges against Smollett had been dropped.
In her ruling, made public Friday, Rowland dismissed all other counts brought against Glandian’s firm, Geragos & Geragos.
