Actor Jussie Smollett and the two part-time actor brothers he is accused of paying $3,500 to attack him allegedly rehearsed the assault beforehand, a new report claims.
Abimbola ‘Abel’ and Olabinjo ‘Ola’ Osundairo, both known  the Empire star reportedly, are cooperating with police investigating the alleged hoax attack on January 29,
The Osundairo brothers who are originally from Nigeria but grew up and live in Chicago, reportedly told detectives there was a dry run of the hoax. The 2am attack was supposed to happen earlier and that they did a practice run beforehand, CBS Chicago reports.
For the main event one of the brothers put a rope around Smollett’s neck and poured bleach over him while the other wore a red hat and yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him.
The victim of the alleged ‘homophobic, race based’ attack, Empire actor Jussie Smollett, [photo] has furiously denied claims that he is party to an orchestrated attack
The brothers, who reportedly had a relationship with Smollett and were extras on Empire, told authorities they had bought the items used in the attack at the actor’s direction.
Abel and Ola were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of assault but were released from policy custody Friday evening after investigators said ‘new evidence’ had emerged in their interrogations that requires further detective work.
When asked whether Smollett is officially considered a suspect in light of the new information, the Chicago Police Department told TMZ: ‘We have some information that needs to be corroborated and verified with the Empire cast member before we can answer this question.
‘After new developments, we’ve reached out to his attorney and requested additional time to interview him.’
Smollett has furiously denied claims that he orchestrated the assault and said ‘nothing could be further from the truth’.
Empire extras Abel [left], and Ola [right] are cooperating with police investigating the alleged hoax attack on Jan 29. The brothers  were arrested on Wednesday night at Chicago O’Hare airport as they returned from a trip to Nigeria
On January 29, actor Jussie Smollett was allegedly assaulted by two men at around 2am. – Reports indicated that he was allegedly beaten up and had a noose tied around his neck.
The alleged assault took place as Smollett was on his way home after buying a sandwich at a local Subway.
Initial reports indicated that the attackers were ‘white men’ who yelled ‘This is MAGA country’ while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and pouring bleach on him.
But during an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning America, Smollett denied that his assailants wore red MAGA hats.
After the assault, some began to wonder if Smollett concocted the entire story. That there were those who doubted Smollett stems from some perceived inconsistencies in the narrative.
Actor Jussie Smollett [photo], who is gay, claimed the assailants ‘yelled out racial and homophobic slurs’ as they tied a rope around his neck and poured an unknown substance, he suspected was bleach, on him

A Chicago Police spokesperson said on the day after the alleged attack that investigators were unable to find evidence of an assault.
The only surveillance camera at the scene was pointed in the opposite direction.
Smollett also phoned the police from his apartment rather than from the scene.
When Smollett initially refused investigators’ request to hand over his phone, this raised eyebrows.
Smollett then handed over his phone records, but they were redacted in order to protect the privacy of people not involved in the attack.
On Friday, police arrested two Chicago residents of Nigerian descent, in the connection with the attack – only to have them released later.
Since both men are black, this has led some to be suspicious of Smollett’s claim that this was a hate crime.
Information emerged later on showing that Smollett knew the two men who were arrested since they were extras on Empire.
A theory floating around on social media stated that Smollett staged the attack because his character was being written off Empire.
But the show’s producers and writers quickly refuted that claim according to Slate.