Jussie Smollett receives five months jail sentence
Ex Empire actor Jussie Smollett received a 5-month jail sentence on Thursday. The reason behind it was that the court found him guilty of a hate crime hoax. Smollett filed a report in 2019 and later on it was deemed false, due to which he was guilty of 5 on 6 felony charges.
In the police report, The Skinny actor claimed that two men jumped him and yelled racist and homophobic slurs.
Smollett was also fined $25,000
Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, $25,000 fine and a payment of $120,000 restitution to the Chicago city.
Linn said that Smollett caused some real damage to the hate crime victims by what he did. While the guards led him out of the courtroom, The Mighty Ducks actor shouted that he is innocent and isn’t suicidal. According to Linn, Jussie did this to gain fame.
The Judge commented that Jussie wanted to get attention and he knew social justice issues was a sensitive topic in the country. Linn added that the American actor tried to throw a national pity arty for himself. He further called Smollett a “charlatan”, adding that he committed a crime which is extremely selfish and narcissistic.
Smollett’s supporters are worried about his safety
Regarding how notorious his crime was, several supporters are concerned about Smollett’s safety during his jail term. Smollett claimed he’s not suicidal time and again suggesting that if anyone found him dead, it would not be because he killed himself.
The actor’s attorneys requested that the jail term be stayed. But Linn was pretty firm on the decision.
Jussie played the role of Jamal on Empire but the team wrote him out of the final episodes of Season 5. This happened due to the unfolding of the hoax. In May 2020, the show returned for a sixth season, but Jussie never returned.