Actress Jurnee Smollett called on Cook County to “#FreeJussie” following her brother Jussie Smollett’s sentencing on Thursday to 150 days in prison for staging a fake hate crime back in 2019.
“There are almost five times as many black Americans in state prisons as there are white Americans. Jussie is innocent,” the younger Smollett wrote on Instagram on Saturday. “And… you don’t have to believe he’s innocent to believe he should be free. #FreeJussie #StopClockUpOurPeople”.
The jailing of former empire actor Jussie Smollett for an incident in Chicago that resulted in him filing false reports with the police is part of an overall sentence that includes 30 months probation, $120,106 in restitution to the city, and an additional $25,000 in fines. “I am not suicidal. If something happens to me in [jail]I didn’t do it,” the actor exclaimed as he was escorted out of the courtroom after the verdict. “I’m not suicidal, I’m innocent!”
Smollett called the police on January 29, 2019, claiming that two men wearing ski masks attacked him outside his apartment building while spewing racial and homophobic slurs and exclaiming, “This is MAGA country,” referring to former President Donald Trump. Let’s make America great again.” Although news of the alleged attack initially generated strong support for Smollett, he later became the subject of a criminal investigation, and he was charged with a Class 4 felony by a grand jury for filing a false police report in February of that year. All charges against Smollett were dropped in March 2019, although the special counsel eventually reopened the case following protests over light sentences against him.
Smollett’s sentencing came immediately after his December 2021 conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct related to his false police reports. His sister Jernie’s Instagram post can be found below.