Jussie Smollett Got 150 Days In Jail And 30 Months Felony Probation For Lying To Police About Being Attacked In A Hate Crime
Our long national nightmare is over! Well, it was more like a long national fever dream involving greased-up twin bodybuilders and a laughably unbelievable serial killer style ransom type note complete with a childish crying stick figure with a noose around its neck. We didn’t even have COVID dreams this wild! Today, Jussie Smollett was sentenced for lying to the cops about being attacked in a hate crime in 2019. Jussie was facing up to 3 years in the clink, but Cook County Judge James Linn decided on 150 days in the clink instead.
Just over three years ago, Subway sandwiches made the most headlines since it was discovered that their spokesperson was a pedophile when Jussie brought them into his mess. In addition to having his picture plastered over every cash register from New York to LA directing employees to destroy his Subway My Way rewards card on the spot, Jussie was also convicted of 5 counts of making a false police report at the conclusion of his trial in December of last year. That’s a lot of footlongs! Experts didn’t think he’d get jail time since he does not have a past felony record, but jail time is what he got. That’s what happens when you play with fire. And bleach. And safety scissors and a glue stick. And Lee Daniels.
Jussie declined to speak at his sentencing hearing today, but he spoke after he was sentenced and continued to claim he’s innocent. via CNN:
Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of probation, ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and spend 150 days in jail on Thursday for making false reports to police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019.
After the judge announced his sentence, Smollett lowered his face mask and said he was innocent. “Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this,” the actor told the judge, before turning to the court. “And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
According to AP, Jussie must also pay $120,106 in restitution. And TMZ says that during Jussie’s sentencing, Judge Linn went in on him:
Judge Linn says Jussie wasn’t motivated by money … he did it because he craved the attention and thought he could boost his profile by tapping into the social justice movement in America. He said he just wanted to make himself more famous, throwing himself a “national pity party.”
The judge called Jussie arrogant, selfish, narcissistic, and he did damage to real victims of hate crimes. Victims are always reluctant to come forward, and Jussie did them no favors. The judge says Jussie lied .. lied and lied repeatedly about the incident.
The judge made it clear he was not sentencing Jussie to satisfy public opinion … it was purely a matter of what Jussie did. The judge said there was nothing he could do that would be worse than what he did to himself, saying Jussie destroyed his life by his shenanigans.