Photo: Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic
After a judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in prison for staging a hate crime, Taraji P. Henson joined several other celebrities in calling the punishment excessive. Although Smollett maintained his innocence, he was found guilty last year of filing a false police report and was ultimately convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct. The Empire actor is now threatened with 30 months probation. He was also ordered to pay the city of Chicago $120,106 and a $25,000 fine, according to the `. Smollett has apparently hinted that his safety may be at risk while he is in prison. “I’m not suicidal,” he declared at his March 10 hearing. “And if something happens to me when I go in there, I didn’t do it to myself. And you all need to know that.” Here is a list of celebrities who have spoken out against Smollett’s incarceration.
“I’m not here to debate his innocence with you, but we agree that the punishment does not fit the crime,” Henson wrote on Instagram. She then referred to Emmett Till, noting that no one went to jail when the black teenager was lynched after he was falsely accused of refereting on a woman. Arguing that her former co-star had already “lost everything” as an artist, Henson suggested house arrest and probation were fairer. “Please #freejussie,” she finished, followed by a series of praying hand emojis.
The Lovecraft Country actress previously stated that she believes her brother is not guilty and she clearly hasn’t changed her mind. In her Instagram post calling for Smollett’s release, she shared a statistic about the disproportionate incarceration rate of black Americans. “You don’t have to believe in his innocence to believe he should be free,” she added.
According to The Independent, the couple sent a letter to the judge presiding over Smollett’s trial before sentencing. They called for punishment without imprisonment. “We have often broken bread with this young man as we discussed the right and wrong way of life,” the couple wrote. “Jussie comes from a good family that we are proud to know and know to be willing to give him whatever support and monitoring help they can in an alternate parole scenario.” The Jacksons went on to argue that Smollett already was punished for the damage done to his reputation and career.
The Clemency actress also reportedly wrote to the judge on behalf of Smollett. She used her letter to speak to Smollett’s character; According to the Independent, she called him “extraordinarily kind” and “a compassionate presence and advocate for the underprivileged since he was a boy”.
Directly addressing an Instagram post to Smollett, Moore wrote, “I believe that you and I believe in you to deliver life-saving, spiritual wisdom of abundance, power and truth from this amazingly unjust and damaging challenge. You shouldn’t be in jail.” In a follow-up post, the Pose star added, “I don’t have a weird feeling in my gut about him, I have a weird feeling in my gut about this case.”
According to a screenshot captured by Buzzfeed, the Insecure actor shared Moore’s post on his Instagram story. “Breonna Taylor’s killer and an endless list of other cops can’t be held accountable … but Jussie is locked in a CAGE for allegedly lying to the police?” Sampson wrote. “How many Karens have lied to the police without accountability under Eid a la Emmett Till?”
What Jussie Smollett did was bloody stupid. But it’s crazy that he’ll be spending more time in prison than the family that’s largely to blame for America’s opioid epidemic.🧐
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 11, 2022
Noah’s tweet suggests he believes Smollett faked the hate crime against himself. However, the Daily Show host still appears to be struggling with the length of Smollett’s prison sentence.
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