Empire star Taraji Henson has joined the ‘Free Jussy’ call after disgraced actor Jussy Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in prison for staging a hate crime.
Recalling the murder of Emmett Till, Henson said in an Instagram post Sunday that Jussie Smollett should not be sentenced to jail for spending over $100,000 in police resources to portray Trump supporters as violent, homophobic racists, alleging that white people went free for much less money. offenses.
“I’m not here to discuss his innocence with you, but we can agree that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” she said, sharing the “#FREEJUSSIE” meme.
“I’m not here to discuss his innocence with you, but we can agree that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” she began. “Emmett Till was severely beaten and eventually killed because of the lie, and none of the people involved in his death spent a day in prison, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her statements were false.”
No one was injured or killed during Jussi’s trial. He’s already lost everything, EVERYTHING! she added.
Henson said blacklisting Jussie Smollett in Hollywood would be “punishment enough”.
“An artist who cannot create this on his own is already punishment enough,” she argued. “He can’t find a job. No one in Hollywood will hire him, and again, as an artist who loves to create, that is, a prison. I pray that he will be released and placed under house arrest and probation because that would be fair in this case.”
Henson disabled all comments after people expressed their distaste for her memories of Emmett Till. Her post followed that of actress Jurnee Smollett, Jussi’s sister, who declared him “not guilty.”
“Black Americans are serving almost five times as many in state prisons as white Americans,” Jurney wrote. “Jassi is innocent. And… you don’t have to believe he’s innocent to believe he should be free.”
In early 2019, the Empire actor claimed he was the victim of a hate crime on a cold Chicago winter night at the hands of two men who mocked him with homophobic slurs, yelling “this is MAGA country” as they tied a noose around his neck. . Many in the media took Smollett’s story at face value until evidence showed that he hired two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack, allegedly in an attempt to boost his salary on the show. Smollett was sentenced last week to 150 days in jail after being tried and found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report last December.
Smollett will reportedly serve his sentence in custody.
“I’m not suicidal!” #JassiSmollett was sentenced to 150 days in prison for hoaxing a hate crime. Smollett pleaded not guilty as he left the courtroom.
LOOK #KortTV LIVE – https://t.co/tnYdPcDRMU pic.twitter.com/E42JKevbm1
— Court TV (@CourtTV) March 11, 2022