Empire star Jussie Smollett sentenced to five months in jail for staged hate crime case

Actor Jussie Smollett of Empire fame was sentenced to five months in jail on Thursday for staging a hate crime in which he lied to police about being jumped by two men who yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him. In addition, the actor has also been asked to pay USD 120,000 restitution to the city of Chicago and also a USD 25,000 fine. 

As reported by Variety, Judge James Linn ordered the actor’s sentence and maintained that he indulged the hate crime hoax to make himself more famous and added, “You’ve turned your life upside down by your misconduct and shenanigans. You’ve destroyed your life as you knew it. You wanted to get the attention and you were so invested in issues of social justice, and you knew this was a sore spot for everybody in this country… You were throwing a national pity party for yourself.”

It has also been reported that on hearing his sentence being delivered by Judge Linn the actor stood up in court and maintained that he is innocent and also declared, “I did not do this, and I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.”

Before the sentencing, popular figures like Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson and also Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP wrote letters to the judge asking him to forgo prison time for Smollett. Several supporters of the actor also argued the sentencing as they reportedly suggested that since the actor had no previous felonies on his record.

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