In a bizarre twist on day four of actor Jussie Smollett’s trial, a defense attorney suggested that Smollett was in a sexual relationship with one of the brothers who attacked him. Ola Osundario and his brother, Abimbola, claim that Smollett got them to stage a faux homophobic hate crime so Smollett could get back at Empire producers who he felt didn’t protect him enough when he received hate mail. Abimbola testified that he participated because he felt “indebted” to Smollett for getting a small role on Empire.

However, Smollett’s lawyer, Shay Allen, threw a curveball Thursday and suggested Abimbola and Smollett were in a relationship that involved masturbating in a bathhouse together. “When did you and Jussie start dating?” Allen asked, to which Abimbola replied they were just friends who never dated. He said he was not a homosexual and denied Allen’s suggestion that he had used sexual tension with Smollett to further his career. Allen then asked Abimbola if he remembered masturbating in a bathhouse with Smollett, to which he said no. He testified on Thursday that he visited strip clubs and a bathhouse with Smollett, and took drugs and partied with him, but always viewed him as “a brother.”