Fraud Friday: I’m Gay, Not Blind: Live in Chicago w/ Sydnee Washington, Skyler Higley & Ashley Ray

Summary

Scam Goddess Podcast Summary: "Fraud Friday: I’m Gay, Not Blind: Live in Chicago w/ Sydnee Washington, Skyler Higley & Ashley Ray"

Release Date: April 11, 2025

Hosts and Guests:

• Laci Mosley (Scam Goddess): Host of the podcast.
• Sydney Washington: Emmy-nominated actress and frequent guest.
• Skyler Higley: Writer for Conan, featured on Comedy Central.
• Ashley Ray: Host of "TV I Say," writer for HBO's "Alabama Jackson" and "Sausage Party."

---

Introduction

In this special live episode of Fraud Fridays, the Scam Goddess, Laci Mosley, welcomes her loyal congregation to Chicago. Joining her are beloved guests Sydney Washington, Skyler Higley, and Ashley Ray. The episode promises a deep dive into one of the most notorious fraud cases in recent history, blending sharp analysis with their signature comedic flair.

---

Deep Dive: The Jussie Smollett Fraud Case

Overview of the Incident:

The primary focus of the episode is the Jussie Smollett case, where the actor alleged he was the victim of a violent hate crime in Chicago. However, suspicions quickly arose that Smollett orchestrated the attack himself to gain publicity.

Key Points Discussed:

1. Alleged Setup:

   • Timing and Location: Smollett's reported attack occurred at 2:00 AM near a Subway in the polar vortex, raising questions about the plausibility of the situation. [09:28] Sydney Washington: "That’s a hero. That’s an icon."
   • Behavioral Inconsistencies: The hosts highlight Smollett's behavior post-attack, such as continuing to perform shortly after claiming he was a victim. [14:40] Ashley Ray: "He’s, like, chin up. Getting the good angle."

2. Suspicious Evidence:

   • Lack of Video Footage: Despite occurring in a highly trafficked area, police struggled to find camera footage of the incident. [07:02] Skyler Higley: "Woman in tech. Come on now."
   • The Ransom Letter: A letter sent to Smollett with crude drawings and homophobic slurs was deemed inconsistent with genuine hate crimes. [47:16] Sydney Washington: "Because it’s 1952, actually."

3. Investigation and Charges:

   • Arrest and Legal Proceedings: Smollett was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. He pleaded not guilty to all 16 charges. [70:24] Sydney Washington: "Drippity drop, drip, drop, drip, drip."
   • Verdict and Aftermath: In 2021, Smollett was found guilty and sentenced to 30 months felony probation, including jail time, fines, and restitution. He later appealed the conviction but remains incarcerated as of October 2023. [73:00] Ashley Rae: "I just want to delineate that."

4. Potential Motives and Implications:

   • Financial Strain: The discussion touches on Smollett's dissatisfaction with his salary from "Empire," speculating it as a potential motive for staging the attack.
   • Relationship with Staff: Claims that Smollett had tensions with fellow cast members, including Terrence Howard, suggesting a motive rooted in personal conflicts.

Notable Quotes:

• [10:07] Sydney Washington: "Do you really believe me?"
• [22:17] Ashley Rae: "That was bad acting. This was Empire. We did it."
• [32:29] Skyler Higley: "No, no, no, no."

---

Comedic Reenactments and Improvisations

The episode features hilarious reenactments of the Smollett incident, with the hosts and guests portraying exaggerated versions of the events to highlight the absurdities they believe indicate fraud:

• Mocking the Attack Setup:

  • Ashley Rae imitates Smollett's reported demeanor during the attack, sarcastically portraying his supposed distress. [39:13] Sydney Washington: "So now we can do our own accord."

• Parodying the Investigation:

  • The hosts humorously critique the police investigation, pointing out perceived flaws and inefficiencies. [43:36] Sydney Washington: "As we all have in our home."

• Exaggerated Reactions:

  • Sydney Washington and Skyler Higley perform over-the-top reactions to Smollett’s behaviors, underscoring their skepticism. [53:59] Skyler Higley: "You are too fine to be doing any of that."

Notable Quotes:

• [61:07] Skyler Higley: "It is like he was trying to hook it up to the bonsai."
• [65:42] Sydney Washington: "That was bad acting. Correct."

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reiterate their stance on the Smollett case, firmly believing in his guilt based on the evidence and inconsistencies they discussed. They express their admiration for Chicago for "winning" in handling the case and humorously encourage their audience to stay vigilant against fraud.

Promotions and Sign-Off:

• The hosts promote their respective projects, including social media handles and upcoming shows.
• Ashley Rae concludes with a final comedic flourish, emphasizing their commitment to exposing fraud. [82:27] Skyler Higley: "Wow."

Notable Quotes:

• [67:22] Sydney Washington: "That motherfucker's guilty."
• [75:13] Skyler Higley: "What club?"

---

Key Takeaways

• Critical Analysis: The hosts provide a thorough, albeit comedic, examination of the Jussie Smollett case, highlighting numerous points they believe indicate fraudulent activity.
• Comedic Engagement: Through reenactments and sharp humor, the episode keeps listeners entertained while discussing serious topics.
• Community Connection: The live Chicago setting allows for real-time interaction with the audience, enhancing the engaging nature of the discussion.

Final Quote:

• [83:31] Sydney Washington: "Just in and so good. Thousands of spring finds up to 70% off are at Nordstrom Rack stores now."

Closing Remark: Stay tuned to Scam Goddess for more insightful and entertaining discussions on fraud and scams, delivered with a hefty dose of humor and wit.

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Note: This summary captures the essence and key points of the episode while excluding advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections as per the guidelines.

Transcript

[Lacey Mosley]

How do you make an Airbnb A vrbo? Picture a vacation rental with a host. The host is dragging your family on a tour of the kitchen, the bathroom, the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs bedroom, and the TV room, which, surprise, is where you can watch tv. Now imagine there's no host giving you a tour because there's never any hosts at all, ever. Voila. You've got yourself a vrbo. Want a vacation that's completely and totally host free? Make it a vrbox.

[Skyler Higley]

The missing child is Lucia Blix, 9 years old.

[Ashley Rae]

Please let her come back home safely.

[Skyler Higley]

April 16th.

[Sydney Washington]

The kidnappers plumbed it meticulously.

[Ashley Rae]

If money is what it takes to get her back, we're gonna pay it.

[Lacey Mosley]

The secrets they hide.

[Ashley Rae]

You can't talk about this, you can't write about it are the clues. The mother's hiding something. I know it.

[Sydney Washington]

To find her, tell me where she is.

[Lacey Mosley]

The Stolen girl series premiere April 16 on Freeform and stream on Hulu.

[Ashley Rae]

What's poppin, congregation? It's YA girl, Lacey Mosley, AKA Scam Goddess. Welcome to an episode of Fraud Fridays where we release older episodes from the Scam Goddess. Balt. That's right. Fraud Fridays is where we bring back your favorite episodes from behind the Paywall. Enjoy this episode from behind the Paywall. And as always, stay scheming. Scams. Cause Robbery and Frau Cause Scam Ca Rob and Frau Scam Goddess. Hey. Hello. What's up, Chicago? We did it, Joe. Y'all got me out here. Now, if you're familiar with this podcast or any of these live shows, then you know what comes next. Church always starts with devotion. Yes. Amen. So if you know it, sing along. Sc Robbery and France Scams. Car rubber free and froze. Oh, y'all just gave me so much energy. So we have a very fun show for you today. If you're following, then you know who we're talking about already. We'll get there. But first, I want to introduce my lovely guests. Who? Two of them you've heard on the podcast and one of them you haven't. So first, my first lady of the congregation. Okay. She sits in the front pew with the best church hat on. Okay? She's been at every live show. A queen, one of my dearest friends, Emmy nominated actress, currently has a solo show called how to Start a Fire. How to start a Fire. There we go, y'all. Please give it up for Sydney Washington. Sit next to me. Next up, the person you don't know. Okay, see, this is because comedians don't email Me things in time. Emily would have put this on a cue card. Okay, so we had to do a little hodgepodge. So this is someone I met on Twitter who's funny as hell. And I was tweeting about the show and they were like, oh, you know what? I might slide. And I said, now wait a minute. Where do you live? You could slide for real at work and work for it. He's a writer for Conan. Y'all know that's my daddy. He currently writes for the Onion and he's doing crazy shit over there and he's been featured on Comedy Central. Y'all, please give it up for Skyler Higley. Now, last but never least, you've heard her on the two viral episodes of the show about Talcum X, AKA Martin Luther Scheme. She's the host of TV I say, an earwolf podcast seen on hbo, Vulture, Adult Swim, and a writer on Alabama Jackson and Sausage Party. Y'all know her as my queen, the Ashley Rae.

[Sydney Washington]

Ah, hello.

[Ashley Rae]

Hello, everyone. Yeah, y'all can put y'all microphones up to your mouth. How y'all doing tonight?

[Skyler Higley]

Lovely. I know it's about to be a mess. I know it.

[Ashley Rae]

It's about to be a lot of mess.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes. Oh, yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

If you're familiar with the show, then you know we always start with what's hot in fraud. Yes. Okay, I see some of y'all quoting scripture out there.

[Sydney Washington]

Okay. Amen.

[Ashley Rae]

Amen. Y'all know I like it. They talking about not record, don't take videos. Do they not know who I am? You better record everything and take every video of me, every photo. Listen, I'm doing a meet agree afterwards so we can meet, we can greet, hopefully. I bought some merch, so don't be trying to scam me.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

So here I will be operating a computer motor vehicle.

[Skyler Higley]

Woman in tech. Come on now.

[Ashley Rae]

Women in stem.

[Sydney Washington]

Women in stem.

[Skyler Higley]

Text down stem. Tech. Tech skim.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, I should have wore a turtleneck, but I do got my neck tight.

[Skyler Higley]

I got it for you, Lizzy.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay.

[Sydney Washington]

It's up there.

[Ashley Rae]

I'm giving. She knows Java. That's. That's. Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

Very girl boss.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes. Very girl boss is elite. Okay.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes.

[Ashley Rae]

So here we go. What's hot in fraud?

[Judith Cargbo]

What? What?

[Ashley Rae]

So my hero, he's a Lithuanian man. I don't know why that's the first thing in the queue. Yeah, and he's been accused of faking heart attacks at restaurants in Spain. Some of you know it as Espana. To avoid paying the bill. The 50 year old man who has been identified only as Adidas J. Yo.

[Judith Cargbo]

That'S a scammer ass name right there.

[Sydney Washington]

Magnificent name.

[Ashley Rae]

Like how your name Nike. What do you mean that's not your name? So he's repeatedly faked coronary episodes at fancy restaurants in and around the Mediterranean coastal city of Alicante. The man orders expensive items like lobster.

[Sydney Washington]

Intercoat, as one would.

[Ashley Rae]

Right? As I would. Intercoat is fancy meat. I had to look that up.

[Skyler Higley]

So is that the kind of meat that's on a charcuterie, or what is that?

[Ashley Rae]

They might be serving it on the sticks at the Brazilian.

[Sydney Washington]

Or maybe it's like a wild get out like that? Yeah, like that fresh cut off the.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, it's like where they massage the animals and get them drunk before they kill them. Oh, that's that good meat.

[Judith Cargbo]

They got that meat. Like the animals that are, like, strung out, like.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, that's how you get the.

[Skyler Higley]

So that's the flute out.

[Ashley Rae]

Animals.

[Skyler Higley]

They flew out. Okay, got it.

[Ashley Rae]

All these animals were definitely flew out. For sure. These are city girls. So he repeatedly faked these coronary episodes. And he would also order premium whiskeys.

[Sydney Washington]

That's a hero. That's an icon.

[Judith Cargbo]

Does it say how many did he do before he got caught?

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

So he was last arrested. Well, he was arrested first. Yes, it was his first arrest, but he was arrested last month for the 20th fake heart attack in 2020.

[Sydney Washington]

Nah.

[Skyler Higley]

Now, you know what? If he lived in America, that would make sense.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, you earned that. 20 fake heart attacks also. Just look at his face. That's a man who knows he's not getting away. Like, he's not acting. Well, that is a man who knows. Like, y'all really believe me. That's what his face says.

[Judith Cargbo]

Did they arrest him mid heart attack? They're like, uh, bro, uh, we are. No, come on now.

[Ashley Rae]

I don't know. His face is giving heart attack to me. That's what I was saying.

[Skyler Higley]

I was like, everything is.

[Sydney Washington]

That is giving. Like when I would pretend to be asleep, and I'm kind of looking out the corner of my eyes like, y'all getting this. Ooh, it hurts so bad. He's looking over. I don't know.

[Ashley Rae]

His face is. Okay. Ashley does have a. Because he does have one eye open and one little close. Are y'all believing it? He's looking over like.

[Sydney Washington]

I believe it.

[Ashley Rae]

My left arm. My left arm. Ooh, Ow, Ow. So bad with her.

[Judith Cargbo]

Was he getting an ambulance, or did he just pop up like. All right, bye, y'all. Okay, okay.

[Ashley Rae]

So since they said, spain, you know, we're down bad in healthcare in America. So I was thinking, like, maybe the wheel we was free over there, because over here, probably I'm taking.

[Skyler Higley]

No one is calling the ambulance for a heart.

[Judith Cargbo]

Wait, it's in Spain. So he could have just been like, yeah, I'm doing my siesta right now.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

I mean, look, my guy got his whiskey, his lobster, and his massage. Drunk ass beef. And then he said, adios, mi cora.

[Skyler Higley]

Now, you mentioned the drink. Why is that important? Like, what kind of drink should you be drinking when you scamming?

[Ashley Rae]

I think the drink is important here because this is a good drink for this scam. Because I feel like a whiskey drinker who's eaten a lot of, like, fatty meat. Like, this is all staying coronary to me.

[Sydney Washington]

Wow, you're setting up a pattern. Like, oh, he was drinking whiskey and steak and lobster.

[Ashley Rae]

We looked at his order, and it was giving heart attack.

[Sydney Washington]

It was.

[Ashley Rae]

He said, extra butter.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

But also, there's drinks that's like a dead giveaway that you about to scam. Like, amaretta sour. It's like, oh, no.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, yeah. No.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, no.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, you a baddie up to some bad.

[Ashley Rae]

That's a permanal drink. That's a criminal drink.

[Skyler Higley]

That is also.

[Ashley Rae]

I'm gonna go further. Long island iced tea. Why you want so many liquors in one liquor?

[Skyler Higley]

You want all the drink, all the drinks. You want all the drinks, all the drinks.

[Ashley Rae]

You want vodka, gin, raw tequila. That's a pyramid. And then you want lemon juice, and then you want some coke on top of it. Yes. I used to bartend.

[Skyler Higley]

I know. I was like, damn. You know the measurements and everything.

[Ashley Rae]

I do. I know it in Spanish too. Y'all know I'm fake espanola, okay? That's called adios, motherfucker. And that's when you put Sprite and Blue Curacao instead. I really bartended for so long, but, you know, do we approve of this scam? I just feel like I do.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes, absolutely.

[Ashley Rae]

I.

[Sydney Washington]

Absolutely.

[Skyler Higley]

I'm tired of paying for food. I'm tired of paying for food. I'm tired of feeling like, oh, if I want to get something nice, I got to save up and then go and make it a big deal. We should be having steak and shrimp and lobster every day whenever you want.

[Sydney Washington]

Lobster whenever you want.

[Ashley Rae]

Cause, like, you know what it is? It feels like food now. It feels like DJ Khaled to me. Every time I go to the grocery store, they like, yesterday's price is not today's.

[Skyler Higley]

Price.

[Sydney Washington]

Right?

[Ashley Rae]

And now they know it's corporate grease, so they like, what are you gonna do, starve, bitch? No. You gonna pay $12 for some eggs?

[Skyler Higley]

No, I'm gonna have a bacon, egg, and cheese without the egg.

[Sydney Washington]

Same. Cause I'm allergic to eggs, but, well.

[Skyler Higley]

I'm allergic to paying for stuff. So that's what that's about. That's for me.

[Sydney Washington]

But I feel like this takes so much skill. Cause you have to fake the heart attack where they're concerned. Enough, but not enough that somebody's grabbing the paddles and trying to electrocute you, right? Which you find that balance.

[Judith Cargbo]

This comes to my next question. When did I get this picture? Like, at what point To a guy doing a heart attack, you go, hey, hold up real quick. Let me get a real close p. Stop the wolfing. Stay still so we can get.

[Skyler Higley]

And it look like he in the back of the house. It don't feel like he in front of the restaurant. Look at the tile.

[Ashley Rae]

Look at the towel.

[Skyler Higley]

The towel is.

[Sydney Washington]

That is restaurant tile. That is kitchen tile.

[Ashley Rae]

Honestly, Skylar, you bring up a good point, because I know we film everything in today's society. Film me. But there's something to someone having a heart attack and you being like, oh, this is gonna go viral. Like, why are you taking a video?

[Judith Cargbo]

He ate so much cowboy.

[Sydney Washington]

He looks such a scammer. He's smirking. He's looking like, come on, y'all.

[Ashley Rae]

Wait, Somebody said it's a selfie in the crowd, right?

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

I mean, it's like, he was like.

[Skyler Higley]

And wait, is there a selfie?

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, my God. I'm dead. Is that a pillow underneath him too?

[Skyler Higley]

Like. Like it's giving comfort. Plus, I don't know.

[Judith Cargbo]

He was ready.

[Skyler Higley]

I don't know.

[Judith Cargbo]

You could legit take one like that on this stage right now.

[Ashley Rae]

This is not giving comfort. Plus, Sydney, we both like Delta Pillow. This is G Spirit Caroline's medical treatment.

[Sydney Washington]

He's, like, chin up. Getting the good angle.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, he did stick his chin up a little bit.

[Sydney Washington]

Listen, I look cute. Like, y'all. Come on.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, let's talk about hair. Y'all know when your hair kind of gets, like, greasy and. And you need to wash it, but you don't have time to wash it, especially if you have a lot of hair. Y'all know that's a whole day. Enter Batiste. It's Batiste Lightest dry shampoo. Batiste Light blends in seamlessly with your hair, leaving none of that white residue. And your hair looks clean, and it Feels clean. Okay. Plus, Batiste Light effectively absorbs oil and grease without weighing it down. It's a total game changer for amazing second or third day hair. Okay. And if you black, you know, maybe a little longer, because, hello, I like Batiste light because whenever my hair is feeling, like, greasy or oily, you know, when I've wrapped it too many times or whatever, I can put that in my hair and it kind of wakes it back up, you know what I mean? Without it looking white or powdery or, you know, like, I just put a bunch of baby powder in my hair or something. You know what I mean? Buy Batiste Lite Dry shampoo online or in store at your nearest retailer.

[Lacey Mosley]

How do you make an Airbnb a vrbo? Picture yourself in a vacation rental. You're wondering why you earn loyalty rewards with hotels, airlines, coffee shops you visit, even your local ice cream spot. But this vacation house gives you nothing. When all of a sudden, look at that. You've earned loyalty rewards. Now it's a vrbo, where each stay earns you rewards towards your next stay. Want a vacation rental with rewards? Make it a VRBO. OneKeyCash is not redeemable for cash and can only be used on Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo.

[Ashley Rae]

C. We're moving on.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes. Yes.

[Ashley Rae]

All right, well, I already gave y'all a sneak peek, so you already know where we're headed, because we're in Chicago, and this is such an infamous Chicago scam. You know, we got to talk about Juicy Smoothie.

[Judith Cargbo]

I don't think he did anything wrong. I don't think he did anything wrong.

[Ashley Rae]

You know what? As a black man, I appreciate you standing on business. You standing on business, and I appreciate that. So in February, I was mad at him for that. February.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

That's Black History Month.

[Skyler Higley]

If you don't know Black History, Black History Month.

[Sydney Washington]

The coldest time we had that polar vortex. You all remember.

[Judith Cargbo]

Oh, that was that year. That was that year. That was a fucked up year.

[Skyler Higley]

He played around. He played around with it.

[Sydney Washington]

You will get frostbite. But you know who had to go to Subway?

[Ashley Rae]

And listen, the juice was loose. We've been trying.

[Skyler Higley]

The Juice was loose.

[Ashley Rae]

Y'all really trying to have O.J. after me, and I don't appreciate that. I also don't appreciate, like, we've been trying to move Black History month of June for a long time now. He couldn't wait. Okay. It's longer. It's warmer. I feel like it's blacker. Yeah. We could just. Yeah. See, yeah, that needed to sound like a black person, and I loved it. They were like, yeah, yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

An ally.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, I'mma be at the cookout. Yeah. Love that. So in the most disrespectful month that this Negro could ever do, this February 2019, national news and social media exploded with the news that Empire star Jussie Smollett was the victim of a violent hate crime. However, in the weeks following, it became clear that there was a little bit more to Jussie's story. It got juicy.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

So on January 29th, never forget.

[Skyler Higley]

You was waiting for that, huh?

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah. That is chamber, bro. On January 29, 2019, a day that will always live in our hearts, Jussie went to Chicago Police claiming that he was the victim of this violent hate crime. So now we're just gonna play a little video here.

[Sydney Washington]

Here we go.

[Judith Cargbo]

That.

[Ashley Rae]

There's no. You know, it's 2:00 in the morning. You're going to Subway Sub Zero. Subway is open 24 hours. Like, people kill me when they say things like that.

[Skyler Higley]

See how serious she was when she said that?

[Ashley Rae]

I have to pause.

[Skyler Higley]

That's one thing we gonna do. We gonna repeat what you said to be like. Do you hear how stupid that sounds? Do you hear it?

[Sydney Washington]

They're open 24 hours.

[Judith Cargbo]

It's open 24 hours. How is Uber Eats?

[Sydney Washington]

So is doordash.

[Ashley Rae]

Jussie, you are a rich Empire TV star, and you're telling me you took your black ass out into a polar vortex?

[Sydney Washington]

Polar vortex for some subway at 2am you know what?

[Ashley Rae]

I'm melt.

[Judith Cargbo]

I'm just realizing this right now. I think this was a PR campaign that failed horribly.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, well, I have some tea.

[Skyler Higley]

Subways.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

No.

[Ashley Rae]

You think Jared. You think Jared was.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yes, yes. No, no.

[Sydney Washington]

He had to go with Jussie.

[Ashley Rae]

Exactly.

[Judith Cargbo]

They like working with evil niggas.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, my God.

[Judith Cargbo]

True.

[Skyler Higley]

You're not wrong. You're not wrong.

[Sydney Washington]

That's true.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, was he supposed to be dancing up to the subway like he was on Empire?

[Sydney Washington]

Like they said, make sure it's not a Panera. It has to be a Subway.

[Ashley Rae]

I don't know. Somebody was like, have good bread.

[Skyler Higley]

Firehouse has better bread than that.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, meatball sandwich. Go up, down, up, down, up.

[Skyler Higley]

Wait, wait. Is that the Mary J. Blige remix? What was that?

[Ashley Rae]

That's from Empire.

[Sydney Washington]

Listen, I watched the first season.

[Ashley Rae]

The first season was cute. Okay?

[Sydney Washington]

He has some good songs.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, listen, we used to make Empire meals, me and my cousin Eric, we would make a little Empire meal We would have a theme drink, like a Lucius Martini. Yeah, the names were better.

[Sydney Washington]

I can't remember Kids on the show. Yes, he had that one that was like, when a boy loves a boy.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, oh. He was like, this the kind of song that makes a man love a man. A man love a man. A man love a man. Oh, yes, That's a J.

[Sydney Washington]

That's a hit.

[Ashley Rae]

They agenda was going real hard.

[Skyler Higley]

That's a song to be homophobic about. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. No, ma'am.

[Ashley Rae]

As gay people, we have never been trying to welcome nobody in.

[Skyler Higley]

It's like, shut it down.

[Ashley Rae]

We have literally never been like, come over here to the. The Al Jamaican ticket. Plus, we've never said that. But then that song came out and was like, this. The kind of song that makes a man love a man. And then I cut away to the audience, and it's a man, like, maybe I do want to love a man. I like it.

[Sydney Washington]

But then not Lucious. His father's in the corner. Like, I hate this. I'm his ass in a trash can again.

[Skyler Higley]

And I was right by his side. I'm like, mm, yep. Yes.

[Sydney Washington]

He deserves it for that.

[Ashley Rae]

Yo, that metaphor was deep. Okay? Kitty pool deep. So deep. So let's get back to Jussie. So just saying, it's very normal to go out into a polar vortex at.

[Sydney Washington]

2Am 2am for subway, the neighborhood was Streeterville. And because this is Chicago, this is.

[Ashley Rae]

Why we need our natives.

[Sydney Washington]

That means, yeah, you going out in Streeterville.

[Ashley Rae]

So we're gonna finish playing this damn video and see what he got to say.

[Skyler Higley]

Nobody laugh. Nobody laugh.

[Sydney Washington]

Very serious.

[Ashley Rae]

Technical technicality.

[Judith Cargbo]

He could have said he was going to Potbelly, but no, that. There's no, you know, it's 2:00 in the morning.

[Skyler Higley]

You're going to subway.

[Ashley Rae]

Sub zero is open 24 hours. Like, people kill me when they say things like that. Because it's like, subway is open 24 hours for a reason. So that when you hungry at night.

[Skyler Higley]

And you ain't got, you go to.

[Ashley Rae]

Subway, the camera facing north. How is that my issue?

[Judith Cargbo]

He is so mad.

[Sydney Washington]

He's insane.

[Ashley Rae]

He knew he was lying.

[Skyler Higley]

Like, the way his explanation was, no, you. No, you.

[Ashley Rae]

It's open, though.

[Judith Cargbo]

It's open. It was open 24 hours. He was almost as mad as that R. Kelly interview where it's 24 hours.

[Ashley Rae]

I'm fighting for my life. Why is Gayle King getting all the criminals? Gayle King knows how To Gaslight. A criminal.

[Skyler Higley]

Real good.

[Ashley Rae]

She's like, I learned it from Oprah. Oprah was giving out cars under her seats. Gail's like, you get a sentence. You get a sentence. You get a sentence. Oh, goodness gracious. So we're moving on. So around 2am Jesse left his apartment building to walk to Subway. Subway sponsor the show. We've said Subway so many times.

[Skyler Higley]

But how? You the star of a show and you're like, I'm gonna use my legs and go there and join somewhere and get food. I'll get somebody else to fetch my sandwich.

[Ashley Rae]

I don't know. Listen, Britney Spears was going to the bathroom barefoot, everywhere, all the time. Some people wanna be regular.

[Skyler Higley]

What an example.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

Would it be regular?

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah. Justin needed to feel a little closer to the people you want. Like us normal Chicago people who go to subway at 2am in a polar vortex. The common Chicago experience. He just wanted a little bit of that.

[Skyler Higley]

You go to Subway, to him, that's a dare giveaway. As soon as we get money, we delegating shit to everybody. Nah. Go get that from me.

[Ashley Rae]

Nah.

[Skyler Higley]

Handle my light work. Nah, I can't. I can't use my hands.

[Sydney Washington]

This. This is peak Uber Eats Doordash. Like, what are you trying to tell me, Jussie? Come on.

[Ashley Rae]

He was looking for a different footlong. Oh, my goodness.

[Judith Cargbo]

Okay.

[Ashley Rae]

Wow.

[Skyler Higley]

He said he was looking for a different footlong.

[Ashley Rae]

Yo. The Chicago crowd came in hot.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, no.

[Ashley Rae]

Now he was looking for a different footlong.

[Skyler Higley]

Still at 2am I'm not gonna be on foot for dick. I'm sorry, that's not happening.

[Ashley Rae]

That's just.

[Skyler Higley]

That's not happening.

[Sydney Washington]

Sir, it doesn't matter what sexuality you are.

[Skyler Higley]

I'm not walking to get the dick.

[Ashley Rae]

So you wouldn't eat fresh?

[Skyler Higley]

No, no. I'll take some stale D before I get on my feet and walk somewhere.

[Ashley Rae]

At 2am No, I might eat fresh. I might eat fresh.

[Judith Cargbo]

Also cold as hell. Your tongue's gonna stick to the dick in that cold.

[Ashley Rae]

I said eat. What do you think that meant?

[Skyler Higley]

Oh.

[Sydney Washington]

What oh?

[Skyler Higley]

You talking about the other dark meat?

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah. You don't know nothing about that. I guess.

[Skyler Higley]

The other gay.

[Ashley Rae]

The other gay robbery.

[Skyler Higley]

This is a message from sponsor Intuit. TurboTax Taxes was getting frustrated by your forms. NowTaxes is uploading your forms with a snap. And a TurboTax expert will do your taxes for you. One who's backed by the latest tech which cross checks millions of data points for absolute accuracy. All of which makes it easy for you to get the most money back, guaranteed. Get an Expert now on TurboTax.com, only available with TurboTax Live. Full service. See guarantee [e-mail] guarantees.

[Lacey Mosley]

How do you make an Airbnb a VRBO. Picture a vacation rental with a host. The host is dragging your family on a tour of the kitchen, the bathroom, the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs bedroom, and the TV room, which, surprise, is where you can watch tv. Now imagine there's no host giving you a tour because there's never any hosts at all, ever.

[Ashley Rae]

Voila.

[Lacey Mosley]

You've got yourself a vrbo. Want a vacation that's completely and totally host free? Make it a vrbo.

[Ashley Rae]

And fraud. So around 2am he leaves. He goes to subway. On his walk back, he said that he was approached by two men near a Lowe's hotel wearing masks and yelling racial and homophobic slurs. Shouting this is MAGA country.

[Sydney Washington]

Chicago, Juniorville, Chicago, Illinois.

[Judith Cargbo]

Maga country.

[Sydney Washington]

This.

[Ashley Rae]

Maga country.

[Judith Cargbo]

You know how every year they got the Puerto Ricans driving the MAGA flags down the street? Yeah, MAGA country. Humboldt park. It's crazy with them.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, we love Trump here.

[Ashley Rae]

So Jussie said that his attackers poured an unknown chemical substance on him and that at one point, one of them wrapped a rope around his neck.

[Judith Cargbo]

Starts to get a little sexy. Starts to get a little sexy.

[Sydney Washington]

It's like, just come.

[Skyler Higley]

Was there also a writer's strike during that time? Because who the fuck put that together? That's just two layered of bad, right, Jesse?

[Judith Cargbo]

You gotta get notes. Pick one, you gotta get notes.

[Sydney Washington]

It's just. It's not realistic.

[Ashley Rae]

He says that he fought them off and he ran in one direction. Oh, sorry. They ran in one direction. I don't know what direction it is. He just said they ran in one direction.

[Sydney Washington]

No, Harry Styles, Justin Vampire, such an amazing fighter.

[Ashley Rae]

And after the incident, he went back into his apartment with the noose still around his neck and his business manager called the police. Now, I have to pause here because there's something that's not included here. There's several weird things. We're gonna get to them. But in some other reports that I read, one of the quotes was, hey, you're that nigga from Empire. And I thought to myself, maga town.

[Skyler Higley]

Racist ain't watching no Empire, baby.

[Ashley Rae]

They are watching Empire. They're watching Cookie and Lucious Lyons.

[Sydney Washington]

I mean, Taraji is just that talented.

[Ashley Rae]

Now, Taraji is a queen. She got.

[Judith Cargbo]

Damn it.

[Ashley Rae]

You can watch Taraji. She done Benjamin Button. She done Baby Boy. You can watch Taraji a lot of places. She's a clean.

[Sydney Washington]

A lot of places. They not watching her in that podcast.

[Ashley Rae]

She mainstream. But you telling me Cookie?

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

And Lucious.

[Judith Cargbo]

God damn it, I hate these niggers, but I sure do love me some Empire. God damn it. I heard it's a. It's based on King Lear.

[Sydney Washington]

But they're black.

[Ashley Rae]

Listen. And so is secession, which is why I say secession is just white Empire. Okay, what are they doing fighting for Daddy Co. Let's be serious. They just using more stock terminology to confuse y'all. But it's Empire. Okay?

[Skyler Higley]

Now, wait.

[Ashley Rae]

The dad even did a coma, just like Lucious did. Same show.

[Skyler Higley]

Wait, more importantly, right, It's a polar vortex, right? So you're not wearing a North Face bubble jacket. You don't have no hat, no layers, no nothing. Your face is hitting the elements, and they recognize you. You said what?

[Ashley Rae]

Men don't wear coats in Chicago. We're hearing men don't wear coats in Chicago.

[Skyler Higley]

That's crazy.

[Sydney Washington]

That is true.

[Ashley Rae]

Y'all. Y'all gotta let that toxic masculinity go. Real men let that. Is it gay to be warm? Yo, my guy, is it gay to be warm? Yeah, it's super gay to be warm.

[Judith Cargbo]

A lot of men freezing to death out here.

[Skyler Higley]

That's the manliest thing a man can.

[Sydney Washington]

Do is freeze to death.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, yeah.

[Judith Cargbo]

I ain't no bitch, bro. I'm just gonna die right here. Froze.

[Sydney Washington]

But wait, what about, like, going to sleep, bro?

[Judith Cargbo]

You get warm at the end.

[Skyler Higley]

No, but what about letting the snow hit your face? I feel like that's gay.

[Sydney Washington]

That's gay.

[Ashley Rae]

What?

[Skyler Higley]

You look. What is you as a man, letting ice hit your lip outside.

[Sydney Washington]

Like, I'm sorry, you as a brother.

[Skyler Higley]

Why would you.

[Ashley Rae]

Out here swallowing disguise kids, right?

[Skyler Higley]

Yes, yes. Like, this is why you are the host of this. This is amazing.

[Ashley Rae]

Wow, y'all got me acting ignorant as hell. Good Lord, we gotta make it through here. So, Ashley, I know you want to point to these things. So, like I was saying before, I'm gonna reiterate. So after the incident, he goes back to his apartment, noose still around his neck, and his business manager calls the police.

[Judith Cargbo]

You can't take the noose off. I'm gonna tell you, take the noose off me.

[Sydney Washington]

The first thing I'm doing is taking the nose.

[Judith Cargbo]

Anytime ever, anything happens to me, my first priority at all times, is there a rope around my neck?

[Sydney Washington]

If no, I'm good.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

If. Yes.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, no.

[Sydney Washington]

You gotta get this off of here. That's How I'm running through the next video, but Jesse was like rubber on my neck.

[Judith Cargbo]

Right?

[Sydney Washington]

Things are good.

[Judith Cargbo]

Him just walking him.

[Sydney Washington]

Things are okay.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, man.

[Sydney Washington]

Can't wait to.

[Ashley Rae]

No. Skyler, why are you doing this?

[Skyler Higley]

No, no.

[Sydney Washington]

Oh, my God. You don't need to. We know what we can imagine.

[Skyler Higley]

No, but you never gotten in the house and sat down, and you just been in your coat for, like, 25 minutes. You're like, nah, wait, hold on.

[Ashley Rae]

I need to.

[Judith Cargbo]

I suck at him.

[Ashley Rae]

He acted like when you pull into the garage or, like, your parking spot, and then you just sitting on your phone scrolling for a little bit, he was like, I gotta keep the noose.

[Skyler Higley]

Off for a little bit.

[Ashley Rae]

And he later said that he removed the noose, but then put it back on his neck because he wanted police to see what had happened to him.

[Skyler Higley]

Sounds like a lie. Yeah, sounds like a lie.

[Ashley Rae]

I just feel like you could hold.

[Sydney Washington]

The news and be like, hey, this was around me.

[Ashley Rae]

Now, more important question.

[Judith Cargbo]

Oh, you need a visual aid. I need to just.

[Skyler Higley]

Now, hold on. So the business manager was there. Why didn't he go get the sandwich?

[Ashley Rae]

Listen, the congregation is lit tonight.

[Sydney Washington]

You're like, exactly.

[Ashley Rae]

I heard her preach on. Okay, come on, Pastor. Take your time.

[Sydney Washington]

Exactly.

[Skyler Higley]

Now, what did the business manager look like? Was he. Was he this or this? Cause if he was this, he sure enough should have been on foot getting some footlong.

[Ashley Rae]

I do not know. I do not know.

[Sydney Washington]

Listen, is that the video?

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, yeah, we're about to. So we're about to look at the incident video. Okay, now, y. Uh. Now y'all checking me yours. All right, though. Okay, but you were right, though.

[Skyler Higley]

Wait, should you be on t. Okay, Bishop.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, Bishop.

[Sydney Washington]

The whole time he was like, does she notice? Does she know that she was.

[Judith Cargbo]

She skipped a slide.

[Sydney Washington]

Somebody has to say the whole thing's gonna be ruined.

[Ashley Rae]

White gloves after the show.

[Sydney Washington]

Okay, Bishop, wait, wait. Get them a drink.

[Ashley Rae]

You gotta collect tithes and offerings.

[Sydney Washington]

Thanks.

[Ashley Rae]

All right, so the incidents. Is there anything inside the apartment?

[Skyler Higley]

Okay, I can't see what he look like.

[Ashley Rae]

Want to kiss something again? So maybe he is white.

[Skyler Higley]

It's giving. It's giving. Beige for sure. Alabaster. Oh, no, that's.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, that's Jussie.

[Skyler Higley]

That's Jussie.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay.

[Sydney Washington]

With a string around his neck. That's j.

[Ashley Rae]

That's not what I. I thought the noose was going to look like.

[Sydney Washington]

That's the loosest noose I've ever.

[Ashley Rae]

It looked like a tampon. Like, if you pull one out, the Applicator.

[Skyler Higley]

It's giving Halloween adventure.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, it don't even.

[Skyler Higley]

It doesn't feel like a real noob.

[Judith Cargbo]

Also to point out, they just had the noose on them.

[Sydney Washington]

Okay.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, okay. Now I feel like his apartment could be better lit.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, yeah, it's poorly lit.

[Skyler Higley]

It's given a starter apartment as well.

[Ashley Rae]

It's giving millennial grave. And I have millennial grave. Hard wood.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah, it's.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

What was that?

[Sydney Washington]

One sink? He ain't got two sinks.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

Tiny ass thing.

[Judith Cargbo]

Not you judging people based on sinks.

[Sydney Washington]

Holy.

[Judith Cargbo]

Listen, you are not coming to my apartment sink.

[Ashley Rae]

That's not a farm sink. How you gonna bust a stud in that? Like, what are you like?

[Sydney Washington]

Well, that's why you have to go to Subway, cuz he ain't cooking and cleaning in that kitchen. That sink is too small.

[Skyler Higley]

And that's why we were striking y'all. They were not paying the actors properly.

[Sydney Washington]

Katie MC should be had to afford two sinks.

[Ashley Rae]

So after talking to the police, Jussie went to a nearby hospital where he was treated for minor cuts and bruises. At first, police were unable to find camera footage of the attack, despite it occurring in, like, a highly trafficked with plenty of cameras nearby. Jussie also declined to give police his phone to help with the investigation.

[Sydney Washington]

That's not surprising.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, I'm not giving the police my phone. I could literally get hit over the head with a brick and robbed for everything I have. And the police come and are like, ma'am, give us your phone so we can help you. I'd be like, hell, no. Ow. Absolutely not. Get away from me. They went that way. Like, I'm not giving you my phone so you can get in my phone. And then now I'm the criminal.

[Judith Cargbo]

Right?

[Ashley Rae]

The last time I called the police on an intrusion of people that lived with me at the time, we don't.

[Skyler Higley]

Got any of that.

[Ashley Rae]

But they turned on my black ass because I was the darkest one there. And they were like, you must be the problem. And I was like, I. I called you.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah, I got robbed. My apartment, like, got broken into and robbed. And it was so obviously, like, what would happen. But as soon as the police pulled up and saw this, they was like, oh. I immediately saw them, like, stop trying.

[Sydney Washington]

Like, they pulled up and they were.

[Judith Cargbo]

Like, oh, yeah, What'd you lose?

[Sydney Washington]

All right, bye.

[Ashley Rae]

What year was this? Was it.

[Judith Cargbo]

This was 2019.

[Sydney Washington]

Same year as Jesse.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah. See? So maybe that's why he was trying.

[Sydney Washington]

To make a point for you.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah. Oh, beautiful.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, beautiful.

[Ashley Rae]

I'm sorry, that might be his fault.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ashley Rae]

So moving into this video. So when I saw this video, I hit the group chat and I said, okay, y'all, I think that nigga lying. And this is the video that took me there. So now we can do our encore. I'm gonna play it one more time, and I'm gonna turn up the volume so that you guys can really.

[Sydney Washington]

We need captions on there.

[Ashley Rae]

What is being said? We need captions.

[Sydney Washington]

Get the captions.

[Ashley Rae]

Here we go. I'm going to go back 1. Go forward 1. Play it 1 more time. I'm the gay Tupac.

[Sydney Washington]

So now we can do our own accord.

[Judith Cargbo]

Tupac was the gay Tupac.

[Sydney Washington]

He right. Oh, Jada wrote all about it in her book.

[Ashley Rae]

Wow.

[Sydney Washington]

Not.

[Ashley Rae]

Jada wrote all about it in her book. She did. Listen, y'all, don't buy Will and Jada's damn books, okay? I mean, we done read them all on Twitter, but we gotta buy em now. I'm a support.

[Sydney Washington]

It's like, girl, what's in the book? It's all on the red table.

[Judith Cargbo]

What could you possibly tell us?

[Ashley Rae]

So this was a concert that he did maybe less than a week after the attack. And he said that he didn't go to the hospital, but he went to a doctor and they cleared him to perform. So he was in Los Angeles. I was in Los Angeles. That's where I live. And did you go to the show?

[Skyler Higley]

I know what doctor he went to. He went to them nurses who was giving those fake ass. Fake ass.

[Sydney Washington]

They was like, 200 bucks, we'll clear you.

[Ashley Rae]

They said, we gonna give you the gay Tupac treatment.

[Sydney Washington]

250. We'll say it was a racism. Yeah, that's what you need.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, my goodness. So, yeah, this weirded me out. I was like, why would you do this? Like, why would you say this? This is bizarre. So after talking with police, Jesse went to the nearby hospital, did all that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Skyler Higley]

Right.

[Judith Cargbo]

So did he rap on that show? Why?

[Ashley Rae]

I don't know.

[Judith Cargbo]

I don't like what kind of trauma.

[Sydney Washington]

He did an album or like. He did an album or like a video or something around the same time. Yeah, but a song.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, Some of me. Some of my music.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Spelled sum.

[Sydney Washington]

It was like, yeah, we're going to get to.

[Ashley Rae]

We're going to get to some things. We're gonna cruise control here.

[Skyler Higley]

It was like some of me lying. That's what was called.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah.

[Judith Cargbo]

Some of me parentheses lying.

[Sydney Washington]

Some of my lies.

[Ashley Rae]

Some of my lies. Sum. So on February 13, 2019, police announced that they had arrested two persons of interest. And this is Ambiola Osandario and Ola Binjo. Osundario is giving Omonaija. If you know, you know. Yes. They're from Nigeria. That's one of the main scam captives.

[Sydney Washington]

He is giving Nigeria.

[Ashley Rae]

Not that woo. Now represent. Okay, okay, okay. Now, the way you said that, I felt a little scared how you had said it. Listen, I love Foo Foo. Okay? I don't want no. I don't want no beef.

[Sydney Washington]

Oh, my God.

[Ashley Rae]

Omo Niger. Okay? I might be Igboo. I don't know.

[Skyler Higley]

Judith, Judith, do the cuts.

[Sydney Washington]

Judith.

[Ashley Rae]

I was stolen and brought to America, so I do not know. Judy. Okay, listen. No, the way she said that it was giving, it was giving. Nigerian.

[Sydney Washington]

She was like, I'm Nigerian.

[Ashley Rae]

Now, I'm gonna speed through some details here. Cause do you see how thick these cue cards are? We gotta get moving. It's 8:40. So Ambiola and Ola Benjo. Did I say that right?

[Sydney Washington]

No, I didn't think so.

[Ashley Rae]

Hola, Benja.

[Skyler Higley]

Okay.

[Ashley Rae]

Hola, Binga. I said ja.

[Skyler Higley]

Girl, you gotta get to do a nigga on here. Cause I don't know.

[Ashley Rae]

You say it, God damn it.

[Sydney Washington]

Get it on the microphone.

[Ashley Rae]

Read both of these names. Abimballa Osundaro and Ola Benjo Sundero. Thank you. Listen, if you don't know how to do it, find somebody else who can't.

[Sydney Washington]

Who can't. Thank you.

[Ashley Rae]

I'mma call him O and A after this because I'm never going to get that right, but thank you so much, Queen. So, yeah, give it up for her. Oh, Monetra. Yes. So O and B were arrested as two persons of interest. Okay. When their home was raided, police found Empire Scripts.

[Sydney Washington]

As we all have in our home. Okay.

[Skyler Higley]

And.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes. And.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah, I'm exhausted.

[Ashley Rae]

A phone and a black mask. It was then discovered that one of the brothers worked on the set of Empire with Jussie as an extra, and even sometimes went to the gym with Juicy Jussie. Had police gained access to Jussie's phone, they would have also discovered that he had called one of the brothers just hours before the attack. Attack. Now get a burner, Jussie. Damn right. So the brothers were eventually interrogated and released without charges upon. Pardon me. Upon the discovery of new evidence following their release, Jussie's legal team released a statement saying that he was angered and devastated to discover that he knew his alleged attackers.

[Judith Cargbo]

Wow. It's so crazy that he knew Them. And they were so racist.

[Sydney Washington]

Right? These two Nigerian men were so maga country.

[Skyler Higley]

I love that. He's method. He's a method actor. He's stay in scene for sure.

[Ashley Rae]

So the letter police then revealed that they had a reason to believe that Jussie in fact hired the brothers to stage the attack on him. Jussie denied all claims and told the cast of Empire. I would never do this to any of you. You are my family. I swear to God, I did not do this. Bitch.

[Skyler Higley]

Lacey. Did he pay them through cash app?

[Sydney Washington]

You know he did.

[Ashley Rae]

This is where I'll reveal my little secret. I was shooting Better Call Saul in. In Arizona and ain't shit to do in Arizona, but look at them Sandia mountains and go to work. And so we had run into an actor. I'll keep his name anonymous. So he was on this show. And me and my co star, we had to fly in a couple weeks to shoot this episode. Did any of you guys know this episode? A hooker named Honeydew.

[Skyler Higley]

Legendary. Legendary.

[Ashley Rae]

Thank you, boo. I see you, Queen. You and your friend. Okay, y'all lit. So we went to dinner a bunch because it's like, what else are you gonna do? And that was the time where all of this was happening. It was 2019. And he told us that on set, like, it had gotten so toxic that, like, Terrence Howard did not want to be anywhere near Jussie. Like.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah, he needs a quiet space to do his fake math.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Got really tense. And so these are the men. Bcw.

[Skyler Higley]

These are.

[Judith Cargbo]

You.

[Skyler Higley]

Hired them for that? Wow. Wow.

[Ashley Rae]

They.

[Skyler Higley]

They.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

That's why I'm saying why he paying $5 for a foot long when he already had it?

[Skyler Higley]

I see it. I mean, no. God is good. Yes.

[Sydney Washington]

That's what the streets were saying.

[Skyler Higley]

Wow.

[Sydney Washington]

Their relationship wasn't just about this, but.

[Ashley Rae]

So it was then discovered that a week before the attack, a suspicious letter was sent to Empire Studios addressed to Jesse. It included a crude drawing of someone being shot as well as homophobic slurs made from magazine cutouts.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yup.

[Sydney Washington]

Because it's 1952, actually.

[Ashley Rae]

Uh huh.

[Sydney Washington]

And that's the best way to do it. Still is. Magazine cutouts.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, this is the goofiest ransom note. Like, really? You really win. And you got a Essence. You got a.

[Sydney Washington]

You gotta heat up a few magazines. But you know what you can't just do?

[Ashley Rae]

You got a O magazine.

[Skyler Higley]

You cut out the O, you got a O.

[Judith Cargbo]

But here's the thing about that. It's nice to craft. It's A fun afternoon.

[Sydney Washington]

Everyone should have a hobby.

[Judith Cargbo]

You got your glue stick out.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah. Your scissors.

[Ashley Rae]

You went and got. You went to Joann's Fabrics to do some goofy ass shit.

[Skyler Higley]

Now wait, is he saying that the guys that he hired.

[Ashley Rae]

He's saying that. So basically the letter in quotes came from the Maga enthusiast Nigerian bodybuilders who attacked him at 2am while he was on his way to Subway to eat fresh.

[Sydney Washington]

And they're open 24 hours for a reason. For a reason.

[Ashley Rae]

And they put a noose on him. And they also poured bleach on them. Because you know how when you're a racist, you walk around at 2am in.

[Sydney Washington]

A polar with bleach?

[Judith Cargbo]

I hope someone from Empire shows up. I swear, if any of the cast of Empire shows up as her gay one.

[Sydney Washington]

G.

[Ashley Rae]

And you know how when you're a. A MAGA racist and you love crafts, so you definitely like cut out letters.

[Sydney Washington]

And you work for.

[Ashley Rae]

And then you. And then you figure out where the Empire office is.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes.

[Ashley Rae]

And you mail them a threatening letter because this is all stuff that you do.

[Sydney Washington]

And also this was like later season Empire when people didn't care about the show anymore.

[Skyler Higley]

Just.

[Ashley Rae]

So who's somebody fault?

[Skyler Higley]

I want to know where these young Nigerian Magnum guys are. What are they doing? What are they. I'm gay, but I'm not blind. Like, I'm just. I'm trying to figure out where they hang out at. I mean, where they be at, where they do that at. That's what I want to know.

[Sydney Washington]

For a friend.

[Skyler Higley]

I'm asking for a friend.

[Ashley Rae]

Judith. Title of the episode. That is the title of the episode.

[Sydney Washington]

Right, right. I just want to make sure I don't run into them. I'm scared.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah. Just to protect y'all. Just to protect. Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

Just to stay safe.

[Ashley Rae]

So let's get moving here. So what? Oh, no. But they weren't in the subway. They was beating him up outside of it.

[Sydney Washington]

He never.

[Skyler Higley]

Subway adjacent.

[Ashley Rae]

Beat up setup spots. Oh, oh, okay. You know the tea. Okay.

[Sydney Washington]

It's Streeterville.

[Ashley Rae]

We'll talk after the show.

[Judith Cargbo]

They should put a little plaque outside that subway.

[Sydney Washington]

They should. Here is where Dusty Smollett.

[Ashley Rae]

I want a fucking bench. I want a bench.

[Judith Cargbo]

This is the Jussie Smollett Memorial, Solway.

[Sydney Washington]

The Jussie Smollett Memorial.

[Skyler Higley]

Yo.

[Ashley Rae]

Well, you know how much episode we got left? God damn.

[Skyler Higley]

None.

[Ashley Rae]

These people have jobs to go to. Y'all ain't going nowhere tomorrow.

[Skyler Higley]

Y'all.

[Sydney Washington]

Y'all ain't working tomorrow. It's Friday downstairs. It's a Friday before Thanksgiving. Y'all don't got to do anything.

[Ashley Rae]

Police later, if you can even remember what we were talking about. Police later found the magazine that was used to make the cutouts in Jussie's brother's apartment. He didn't throw the shit away.

[Judith Cargbo]

Nigga, pull up.

[Skyler Higley]

What did his brother look like? Pull him up. I want to see what he look like.

[Ashley Rae]

I don't know what he looked like.

[Sydney Washington]

He's one of the Lesser smolets.

[Ashley Rae]

It's like 30 of them.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, it's a Lesser Smollett. You know it's not. Yeah, it's a Lesser Smollet.

[Ashley Rae]

Something like him.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah. It's not the one from Eve's Bayou. And it's not.

[Skyler Higley]

That's what I was going to ask.

[Sydney Washington]

I was like, is it one of the other ones?

[Ashley Rae]

So the letter also included a suspicious powder, which a HAZMAT team determined to be aspirin. Oh, no.

[Skyler Higley]

So he was trying to give.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, so, Ashley, you were right. He was giving throwback because he gave us anthrax. Anthrax?

[Sydney Washington]

Justin, that's too many things. You can't have a noose letters, anthrax, they're beating you up at 2am that's exactly right.

[Skyler Higley]

How old is Jussie? How old is he?

[Judith Cargbo]

That's overrided.

[Ashley Rae]

He might be a vampire. Because how could we know? These are all different. Anthrax.

[Sydney Washington]

Jussie in 2019.

[Ashley Rae]

Just a silver bullet. Are you a vampire? What's happening?

[Sydney Washington]

You know how.

[Skyler Higley]

You know how, like, TBS does, like, a remake of, like, a documentary? Like, that's all those things that he pulled together.

[Judith Cargbo]

He seems like he Googled, like. Like, how to behave crime.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah. Yep.

[Sydney Washington]

And then he picked every single result. Every result. He was like, let's do that one.

[Judith Cargbo]

You gotta do that one, bro. That's why he's not a writer.

[Ashley Rae]

No one was ever like, let's reel it back, Jesse. Like, maybe. I think we have enough.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, no.

[Sydney Washington]

He was like, no notes. No notes.

[Skyler Higley]

His business manager wasn't like, all right, let's take the bleach out, man. Can we take the bleach out?

[Ashley Rae]

We need the bleach. We need the anthrax also. That's two chemicals. So that's a hat on a hat. Like, let's do the bleach or the anthrax.

[Judith Cargbo]

Classic writing advice. You gotta kill your darlings. You gotta not keep all the shit that you want to keep.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes. And as writers, we know, like, there's jokes that get Killed. And he should have killed. At least bleach or anthrax.

[Sydney Washington]

And he also had a loose.

[Ashley Rae]

Y'all familiar with the area? Are there hella trees around there?

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

No. Everyone says no.

[Sydney Washington]

No, there's revealed.

[Skyler Higley]

No.

[Sydney Washington]

Where were they?

[Ashley Rae]

No, that's just not even logistically sound.

[Sydney Washington]

And also, going to get subway at 2am Makes me feel bad for you, too. So that's also also like.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes. Subway, 2am and you're waiting outside of me near the subway. Like, what? It's just.

[Skyler Higley]

Honestly, can we just admit that these brothers are just too fine to be doing any of that? I just don't believe that these hot men had nothing out to do. They had no backs to be banging out.

[Sydney Washington]

No, they're just.

[Skyler Higley]

Just getting roping, bleaching outside. And Subway.

[Sydney Washington]

Like, these two men have never stepped into Joann's fabric. They don't know what a glue stick is. Look at that.

[Ashley Rae]

When you have a eight pack, you've never heard of El Paso? Those guys look, they are too sexy to do.

[Sydney Washington]

They are not touching a magazine.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah, they look like those are the type of guys that hook up with you and then, like, after, they don't get you a wet rag or nothing. They just let it. They just let it marinate.

[Sydney Washington]

They just don't. You're welcome.

[Ashley Rae]

Judith. Judith.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, Judith. Do that work that way? That is too personal.

[Ashley Rae]

That's too personal. Just on behalf of everyone, I'm so sorry. Mostly of me.

[Skyler Higley]

Where are my good Christians at?

[Ashley Rae]

Where are the good Christian gays?

[Sydney Washington]

Amen.

[Ashley Rae]

Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

[Sydney Washington]

Amen.

[Skyler Higley]

Come on, Tambourine hand.

[Ashley Rae]

Come on. You know what it is, right?

[Sydney Washington]

Won't he do it?

[Ashley Rae]

Won't he do it? Won't he do it? Will he? Won't he? And won't he do it? Amen. Okay, my mama hears you. I can't be doing too much misquoting of scripture. She gonna cuss me out. She. See, she's just saying something. All right, so the letter. Anonymous sources then came forward to claim that Jussie was upset that he didn't get a bigger reaction from the letter, so he staged the attack. So the letter came before the attack. Okay, well, you know what? I like that he tried something small.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, he didn't want to go full attack.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, he didn't want to go.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, he wanted to be realistic. Let's do a letter. Like, people are watching empire in its 18th season. Let's, like, really get me.

[Ashley Rae]

I kind of like that. And then he's, like, ambitious enough to be like, you know what? Let's try again.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah. He's like, we got to go bigger. He just overshot. You got to do a big.

[Skyler Higley]

You got to go bigger. And then he got them two men's over there. They big as hell, y'all.

[Ashley Rae]

I.

[Skyler Higley]

Look, I'm telling you, they was working.

[Ashley Rae]

He overshot it. You know what, Ashley? You make a good point. He started with the letter and was like, this is tame. This is cute. It's creepy. I cut out the letters. I got the Elmer's. But then he was like, huh? I sent that letter a week ago. And nobody's like, nobody even cares. Like, nobody's, like, trying to protect me.

[Sydney Washington]

Nobody even cares.

[Ashley Rae]

Give me the celebrity NYPD hotline or anything, Right? Okay. But then he went, like, full blown.

[Judith Cargbo]

Now we got the shadows.

[Ashley Rae]

He skipped a step.

[Sydney Washington]

He was like, the shadow room didn't even write about the letters. We gotta up the game. Like, yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

So we're gonna wrap this up. So.

[Skyler Higley]

But I will say, this is like a new what you want genre where you get two men.

[Ashley Rae]

Hate crime, fake hate crime, hate crime, pornhub. Y'all are sick. Too many people are. Set me up. Y'all set me up to say that. That's not me. That was not me.

[Skyler Higley]

That was the Juicy.

[Ashley Rae]

People are snapping. Juicy made me say it. Shortly after, the most damning piece of evidence came out. A $3,500 check sent from Juicy to the brothers. It was dated January 23rd. Not him. Dating the crime.

[Skyler Higley]

Check.

[Ashley Rae]

Five. Five week nutritional workout plan. And then it says in parentheses, don't go. So then we have.

[Sydney Washington]

I would get nutritional information.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, yeah. So that was the ransom letter. Sorry, I withheld that with the drawing and everything.

[Judith Cargbo]

Bro, you didn't tell me about the drawing.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes, there's a whole drawing of them being, like, punched. Punched by a tree or something. And then there's a floating gun that's shooting him.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes. So my bad. I forgot that there was actually photo evidence of this. It's giving, like, write it with your left hand if you're a righty.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Write it with your right hand if you're a lefty. So it looks real deranged, y'all. Look at the little gun. How do we feel about the little.

[Skyler Higley]

Gun in the corner? PE.

[Ashley Rae]

PE Is giving. Pew, pew, pew, pew.

[Judith Cargbo]

This looks like it was sent by Dennis the Menace.

[Sydney Washington]

And in the drawing, mini Jesse does have a noose around his little neck.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, wait, they did put a noose on.

[Sydney Washington]

There's a little. Yeah, there's A little noose. So they were like. We're telling you, it looks more like.

[Ashley Rae]

A statement necklace in the photo, but it is a news.

[Skyler Higley]

This is a. This is maddening.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes. All right, so.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, those are the brothers.

[Sydney Washington]

I want to see this video.

[Judith Cargbo]

This is the best video.

[Ashley Rae]

In addition to the check, police had acquired surveillance footage of the brothers buying rope and red MAGA hat shortly before the attack. Now, where do you get one of those in store? Because I thought that was an online thing. Yeah, you have to order that. You can get it.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

We waited for Jesse to come before we attacked him. So we got here with 10 minutes to spare.

[Skyler Higley]

Girl, they filmed this for Tubi. I can't.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

To survey the land. This building is actually right here, right above the stairs that we're going to attack them at. We made sure we got there at 2. 2am sharp.

[Ashley Rae]

On the dot. On the dot.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

Want us to bring any phones? He said, so we don't lose them. I don't know if that's really the reason, but you can deduce your own.

[Ashley Rae]

Reason so your cell phone doesn't ping on a tower.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

He was nowhere to be.

[Ashley Rae]

That was smart.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

So we were like, damn, what do we do? We didn't have no way of contacting him. He had no way of contacting us. So we waited him for about, what, four minutes?

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, listen, I'm going to finish playing this video and we have to move on. But I just have to point out that one, I think Jesse did a smart thing. Don't bring your cell phones. They'll ping on towers. That's brilliant. If you're going to do a crime, don't bring your cell phone. It'll ping on a tower. But also, I just love that they're so dedicated to their work. They were like, well, I guess we're just going to wait out here in the cold.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah.

[Sydney Washington]

I also just want to point out some people said, oh, there aren't trees. Clearly a tree right next to them. And yes, it is a tree. So little Jussie could have stood up. But that doesn't make the fear any less.

[Ashley Rae]

Wait, now we gotta look at the tree again.

[Sydney Washington]

Truly, he could have just gotten on his. He could have just got on his knees, stood up and been okay. But the fear is still there. Is this tree shorter than me? That doesn't matter.

[Ashley Rae]

It is giving banzai. It's giving banzai.

[Sydney Washington]

It is like he was trying to.

[Ashley Rae]

Hook it up to the bonsai. Like they really tried to kill your favorite bitch. Yeah, yeah. No, not on the Bonsai.

[Skyler Higley]

The brother in the turtleneck don't want to be there.

[Ashley Rae]

He's like.

[Skyler Higley]

He was like, I'm not be here for my brother.

[Ashley Rae]

This is where there's the evil one and the good one.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah, no, I heard they both evil.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, one got 37 kids. That's not the evil one.

[Skyler Higley]

No, they both evil. They. They. I heard they be tag teaming and pretending they. Oh, no, that's assault.

[Ashley Rae]

You can't sister. Sister people in real life. That's terrible.

[Judith Cargbo]

That's why. Okay, never a twin.

[Sydney Washington]

And I live by that too.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

Yeah, I do have no way of contacting him. He had no way of contacting us. So we waited here for about what, four minutes? It was about four minutes, but it felt like forever because it was cold.

[Ashley Rae]

Did they say 4 minutes?

[Sydney Washington]

4 minutes and it felt like forever.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

Let's go.

[Ashley Rae]

They are very impatient. Four minutes.

[Skyler Higley]

Wait, wait, wait a minute. Wait, wait.

[Sydney Washington]

Lacey. Is he serious?

[Skyler Higley]

Is he serious?

[Judith Cargbo]

This is beautiful.

[Ashley Rae]

That can't. That can't.

[Skyler Higley]

No, no, no, no.

[Ashley Rae]

At first I was like, how could.

[Skyler Higley]

These fine men be caught up? And then to see the walk. Oh, no, no, no. They deserve all of it. All of the mess.

[Sydney Washington]

All of it. They did it. They did that.

[Skyler Higley]

What was that?

[Ashley Rae]

That's all goofy ass walk, you know. Listen, fucking goofballs. Why they toddling along? We're here to do some crime. How y'all gonna be munchkins for crime.

[Skyler Higley]

Like, bro, you know what happened? They got the Zara Chelsea boots and they too small for them.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, too small.

[Skyler Higley]

And you know when it's hitting the.

[Sydney Washington]

Big, they fit tight.

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah, you off kilter. That's what they said.

[Sydney Washington]

If you don't size up.

[Ashley Rae]

But do what he do. We're here to do some hate crack to you.

[Skyler Higley]

C5 foe scam.

[Ashley Rae]

What do you.

[Skyler Higley]

Girl, we never finishing this.

[Ashley Rae]

We're going to be here tomorrow.

[Sydney Washington]

We are truly going to be there all night.

[Ashley Rae]

Good Lord Jesus, we are okay.

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, my God.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

As we cross the street. We said hey. To get his attention.

[Ashley Rae]

Hey.

[Sydney Washington]

We said hey Looked at us and.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

That'S when we started yelling the famous slurs. He wanted us to yell, hey.

[Ashley Rae]

Aren't you that empire.

[Skyler Higley]

There's no way they're good in bed. There's no way that's.

[Ashley Rae]

They have to be good in bed. You have to be good at something. You have to be good at something.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

And then that's when I threw the first punch at him.

[Sydney Washington]

He is airplane.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

And we started tussling.

[Skyler Higley]

We are getting a Rory reenactment.

[Sydney Washington]

I love it.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

Don't just beat my ass. Make it look like I'm fighting back and whatnot. So we did that, and then I threw him to the ground.

[Ashley Rae]

I stand by that back. Give me some licks in. Give me some licks.

[Sydney Washington]

Gay Tupac would fight back.

[Ashley Rae]

Yes, yes.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

And while after I threw him to the ground, I. He had no bruise. I wanted it to look more real. So then I threw him to the dedication. After I threw him to the ground, I used my.

[Judith Cargbo]

These wide shots. This is cinema.

[Ashley Rae]

Oh, my God. What was that?

[Judith Cargbo]

And I gave him the nookie. I went by object work.

[Ambimbola Osundaro]

Really did get his ass beat, straight up.

[Judith Cargbo]

I appreciate the object work so much. He like, I was. I got him look like a. He was giving us.

[Ashley Rae]

Wait, Skyler, I'm going to keep standing up. I want to give this to you.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

He was like. I hit him and I was like, thw.

[Sydney Washington]

And then I gave him a nuggie. I wanted it to look more real.

[Judith Cargbo]

That's that Gay Empire nigga.

[Skyler Higley]

That made me so dry watching that. That.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Skyler Higley]

Dried me right on up.

[Sydney Washington]

Right?

[Skyler Higley]

Sham wowed everything. Girl, what the fuck?

[Judith Cargbo]

You was almost straight for a minute, and then.

[Skyler Higley]

Almost, Almost. That's why you can't put your trust in a man. No, that.

[Sydney Washington]

That was bad. Correct.

[Ashley Rae]

That was so bad.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes, that's true.

[Skyler Higley]

I gotta go.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yo, this is so much fun. This is the best.

[Skyler Higley]

I gotta catch my cab. Oh, no, there's more videos.

[Sydney Washington]

Oh, yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Now we're gonna move through these because it is 9:09, and there's still a little bit more of the show left, if you know it. So we're living a little bit Chicago. I'm giving y'all an extra good time. I love y'all. Yeah, honestly, like, mute challenge. Like, Chicago's winning. Hey, you do such a disservice when you lie about things like this.

[Judith Cargbo]

If the attackers are never found, how.

[Ashley Rae]

Will you be able to heal? Damn. Not him with the lip bite. I don't know. Let's just hope that they are. You know what I'm saying? Like, let's. Let's not go there yet. He got some tears going, too.

[Sydney Washington]

Why is he smiling so much.

[Ashley Rae]

For.

[Skyler Higley]

Him to be a good actor? This was bad. That was not good acting.

[Sydney Washington]

Okay?

[Ashley Rae]

No, it was Empire. We did it. Well, I mean, he got.

[Sydney Washington]

I feel like he could have got some notes from his sister. Like, the whole family is acting.

[Ashley Rae]

Journey is tired. She's like, I have this family on my back.

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah, that's true.

[Skyler Higley]

That is True.

[Ashley Rae]

My calves, my thighs.

[Sydney Washington]

Please, family, please.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, and so this is when Jesse was arrested in Chicago.

[Sydney Washington]

That's the thinnest jacket.

[Skyler Higley]

That is a windbreaker. I do not understand this.

[Ashley Rae]

How you know you about to get arrested and you like the mug shot gotta be good.

[Sydney Washington]

Like.

[Ashley Rae]

But it's gotta be like, I was caught off guard cause I'm innocent, but also, like, I look cute. Cause I always look cute. Like, it's giving for me a little bit.

[Skyler Higley]

No. And I would say, put the Nigerian boys up. No, they ruined that too.

[Ashley Rae]

So now he's speaking in front of a microphone like he. Like he's fucking Martin Luther. Martin Luther Hood.

[Skyler Higley]

Wink over here.

[Ashley Rae]

Okay, Martin Luther King.

[Sydney Washington]

That's the gay Martin Luther King.

[Ashley Rae]

Duh. That's James Baldwin. But yo, yo, who booed that? That is history. Who booed?

[Judith Cargbo]

He's gay as hell. It's fine.

[Ashley Rae]

I love James Baldwin. He's smiling down on me for that joke. All right, now let's see what he had to say here. He got the prayer hands up, so, you know he really finna be talking.

[Skyler Higley]

And he got the fresh haircut too.

[Sydney Washington]

And that means he did it.

[Ashley Rae]

Now he doing a bald fade in this economy. That. All right, I am not suicidal. Okay. I am not suicidal. Okay? I am not suicidal. Okay, we hear you. And I am not suicidal.

[Sydney Washington]

If I did this, it means that.

[Ashley Rae]

I stuck my fist in the fears of black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBTQ community doubling that. I like that.

[Sydney Washington]

I did not do this.

[Ashley Rae]

And I am not. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. Oh, now he's gonna be a murder. I respect you, your honor. I respect your decision. Jail time. I am not suicidal.

[Judith Cargbo]

Okay, Mr. Uche, let me inquire.

[Ashley Rae]

Are there any post sentencing motions you care to represent? Partisan. I am not suicidal. I am not suicidal and I am innocent.

[Judith Cargbo]

I could have stayed a long time.

[Ashley Rae]

Why the fizz? Yeah, what are we supposed to do with that fizz?

[Judith Cargbo]

That's pretty cool. That's me and my therapist right there.

[Ashley Rae]

I'm like, I am not.

[Judith Cargbo]

Leave me alone.

[Ashley Rae]

Amen.

[Skyler Higley]

Tyler, you are working over here.

[Ashley Rae]

Working 51 50. Yes. Okay, some of y'all know what that is. I am not. I just know things anyway. All right, so on February 21st, Jussie was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report, which is a felony. Several days later, it was announced that Jussie would not be returning to Empire. So A month later, Jussie pleaded not guilty to all 16 of them charges. In a surprising twist, on March 26, all charges against Jussie were drip, drop.

[Sydney Washington]

Drippity drop, drip, drop, drip, drip.

[Ashley Rae]

The prosecutor came. Oh, oh. You asked me. I was right.

[Skyler Higley]

Going under the vampire cam.

[Sydney Washington]

I said, the people who heard it, heard it. Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Dollar, dollar bill, y'all.

[Sydney Washington]

Okay.

[Ashley Rae]

If you know, you know now. I just want. I wanted you like a New York truck. Like, you know, she was like, I want my name dropped. I want my eggs cracked. I don't know why I'm there right now. So. Kim Fox said in an op ed that her office was uncertain that it had enough evidence to gain a conviction. Her office was accused of mishandling the case. So special process prosecutor Dan K. Webb took over. He said the charges would drop because Jussie forfeited a $10,000 bond payment and carried out community service. Okay. And then we just saw him when he was like, I am not suicidal.

[Judith Cargbo]

All my life I had to fight.

[Skyler Higley]

I'm surprised he didn't do. Until you do right by me, everything will think about. Will fail.

[Sydney Washington]

You will be.

[Skyler Higley]

You should have did that to the damn judge. He would have really ate that up.

[Sydney Washington]

He would do well with that monologue. I would. Yeah, he would really do well with that.

[Ashley Rae]

So after the trial, the city's law department demanded immediate payment of more than $130,000 from Jussie, the cost of overtime for more than two dozen detectives and police officers who investigated the case. Sure.

[Skyler Higley]

That's it.

[Sydney Washington]

You know, they didn't invest.

[Ashley Rae]

They was investigating real hard. You know how Chicago Beat PD be investigated?

[Sydney Washington]

Cbd. They be all up.

[Ashley Rae]

You know how they be investigating real hard. They be working so good.

[Judith Cargbo]

That's what they say on the show. I watch the show. That's what they do.

[Ashley Rae]

Skyler. No, they.

[Skyler Higley]

Look, they were going underneath the mat and they were like. Couldn't find him.

[Sydney Washington]

They went down. They were like, y'all seen these African brothers? They did the work.

[Judith Cargbo]

They found the magazine at his brother's house. Like, you did not have to.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, it was handed to you, right?

[Sydney Washington]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

So police said that Jussie carried out the crime because he was dissatisfied with his salary, which could have ranged from $65,000 an episode to $100,000 an episode for Empire. Now, keep in mind that if you're on a syndicated network television show, your episodes can range from 13 episodes a season. Actually, like, if it's a inky baby, it might be 10, but, like, 13 is the norm. And then it could go up to 22.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes.

[Ashley Rae]

So we're saying 65,000 an episode to a hundred thousand an episode. And it was like, not enough.

[Sydney Washington]

This is when Empire was still doing 18 to 22 episodes.

[Ashley Rae]

Yeah, when we still had that. He was like, not enough. Hundred thousand an episode. So it's like, do you think you that white lady from Christ Anatomy? Like, Right. Ellen Pompeo, who thinks she black so bad.

[Skyler Higley]

Judith, keep that in.

[Ashley Rae]

So in February 2022, six new charges were brought against Jussie for disorderly conduct, to which one he again pleaded not guilty. During the trial, Jesse testified that he had met this one, Ambimbola Osundaro. Osundaro, yeah. Okay, it's two here. No, sis, it's right. It's. It's the same name. No, baby, right here. Yeah. Abimbala Osundaro. And it's this one. No, that's how to pronounce. Oh, that name. Okay, sis, girl, she say, listen, we.

[Skyler Higley]

Got to put her on the payroll, man. That's wild.

[Sydney Washington]

I think you got to hire her.

[Ashley Rae]

Listen, we don't know. You don't know. Wait, sis, what's your name? Balaji. Balaji. I'll give it up for Balaji. So Balaji said those names, so I won't be saying them again, but we all know I know how to say them. So during the trial, Jussie testified that he met Abimbola Osundaro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the club where they learned that they both worked on Empire. He said they did drugs together.

[Skyler Higley]

What club?

[Ashley Rae]

And then they went to a bath house where they had sexuals.

[Skyler Higley]

Now that makes sense. That makes sense. I believe that makes.

[Ashley Rae]

Now, Ambula denied this. Did I get it right? Yeah, Ambula denied this. And in 2021, Jussie was found guilty and sentenced to 30 months felony probation, including 150 days in jail. And in order to pay restitution for $120,000 and a $25,000 fine for making false reports. So we just saw Jussie's outburst where he said, I'm not suicidal. Like, somebody's gonna murder him. Okay. Jussie maintains that he's innocent. In September of 2023, Jussie filed to appeal the conviction. If the appeal is not successful, he will have to serve the rest of his 144 day jail sentence. As of October 2023, Jussie checked himself into rehab and is currently receiving treatment from an outpatient program. Now, I just want to delineate that. If you go to rehab and you're inpatient. You're physically present the whole time. Outpatient mean you just go over there for a little bit and be like, I'm here. And then leave. And I don't know if he's there. Cause he actually has, like, a substance situation or if he's, like, addicted to lying. I don't.

[Skyler Higley]

He definitely got a liar.

[Sydney Washington]

He might just really like the snacks that they have.

[Judith Cargbo]

Yo. Well, let's ask him. We actually have him here for you tonight. The audience does.

[Ashley Rae]

He spoke.

[Lacey Mosley]

What?

[Ashley Rae]

Skyler, I'm not suicidal.

[Judith Cargbo]

Still.

[Ashley Rae]

So Abimbola has since entered the world of professional boxing. I don't know if you want to know that. So.

[Sydney Washington]

I do. I want to know where they are, what team.

[Ashley Rae]

Like, what now you attract.

[Skyler Higley]

Does he have a.

[Ashley Rae]

Now you attracted to him again?

[Skyler Higley]

Does he have a sister?

[Judith Cargbo]

Listen, that's why he was showing off those moves.

[Ashley Rae]

Jesse is still waiting for an appeal. And y'all know that people get litigious. So I personally can't say how I feel about this. So I just. I don't know. What's this? That motherfucker's guilty.

[Sydney Washington]

That motherfucker's guilty.

[Ashley Rae]

That motherfucker's guilty. What is happening?

[Skyler Higley]

Oh, my God.

[Judith Cargbo]

Hell yeah. Hell, yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Thank you, Turner. All right, so to wrap this up, well, we really appreciate y'all. Love y'all so much. I'm gonna let everyone let you know where they can be found and remind you of all the things that they have going on. And now we're not on strike, so you can talk about everything. If you want to find me, I'm at D I V A L A C I divalacy on all platforms. If you want to see the photos and all these crazy ass videos from this episode, Scam got his pod. If you want to talk, talk to me. Scamgottispod on Twitter. And you can watch Lopez vs Lopez on Netflix now. And you can watch the Outlaws on Netflix now. And why not the Wedding? You're on Netflix now, too. Thank you all so much for coming. It really means the world to me. He cries. Wow. Standing. Amazing. You did that.

[Judith Cargbo]

Encore.

[Ashley Rae]

And now this is going to be the most anticlimactic into a show ever, because I should have gone last. Thank you so much. Sydney Washington, who's been at every live show, who is a very dear friend of mine. Where would you like to be found?

[Skyler Higley]

Give me on Instagram, just sid bwj J U S T S Y D bw. Anything that I'm doing is gonna be on there. So yeah. And I'm currently looking for the hoes so if you are one of those please slide in the DMs cuz like.

[Ashley Rae]

A bitch toes pound town Skyler.

[Judith Cargbo]

I'm Skyler Higley on Instagram and Twitter. S K Y L E R H I J L E Y. You'll find me and I'm local so I'll be posting stuff if you want to come to a show.

[Ashley Rae]

What about the big show that you have tomorrow night?

[Judith Cargbo]

I'm going to be opening for Nmesh Patel at Chicago theater. If you want to go to Chicago theater, yeah, I'm around.

[Ashley Rae]

You can find me and then my Sean King queen.

[Sydney Washington]

Yes you. You can follow me at theashley Ray where I am documenting Sean's current scams with Alistine. He is working part three is gonna already Sean King is working part so hard behind the scenes to make a ceasefire happen all the time, every day and I am tweeting about it. You can follow me at the Ashley Rae or listen to tv I say my podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Ashley Rae]

And all right now this is how I should have ended the show. Oh, y'all want it again?

[Skyler Higley]

Yeah.

[Ashley Rae]

Robbery and fraud. Scare free and frozen. I love you all so much. Yeah. Thank you, Chicago. You fucking won. You fucking won. Thank you, Chicago.

[Skyler Higley]

Wow.

[Ashley Rae]

Thank you. Scam Goddess. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess stars and is hosted by me, Lacey Moseley, AKA Scam God. Our producer is Judith Cargbo, our production coordinator is Abby Aguilar and our audio engineer is Sam Keeper. Research for the show is done by Kaitlyn Brandt. Stay scheming. All set for your flight? Yep, I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T mobile, headphones. Wait, T mobile?

[Skyler Higley]

You bet.

[Ashley Rae]

Free in flight. Wi Fi.

[Sydney Washington]

15% off all Hilton brands.

[Ashley Rae]

I never go anywhere without T Mobile.

[Sydney Washington]

Same goes from a water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. I'm gonna leave you to it.

[Ashley Rae]

Find out how you can experience travel.

[Judith Cargbo]

Better@T mobile.com Travel qualifying plan required. Wi Fi were available on select US airlines. Deposit and Hilton honors membership required for 15% discount.

[Ashley Rae]

Terms and conditions apply.

[Sydney Washington]

Just in and so good. Thousands of spring finds up to 70% off are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. And that means thousands of fresh reasons to rack.

[Ashley Rae]

How did I not know Rack has Adidas? Why do we rack for the hottest deals?

[Sydney Washington]

Save on Madewell, Vince, Kate Spade, New York, Sam Edelman, Joe's and more.

[Skyler Higley]

Great brands, great prices.

[Sydney Washington]

That's why you rack.