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 making a false statement to the police and ultimately convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct. The Empire actor is now facing 30 months probation. According to the AP, he was also ordered to pay $120,106 to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine. Smollett has apparently hinted that his safety may be at risk while he is in jail. “I am not suicidal,” he said at a March 10 hearing. “And if something happens to me when I go in there, I didn’t do it to myself. And you should all know this. Here is a list of celebrities who have spoken out against Smollett’s imprisonment.
“I’m not here to discuss his innocence with you, but we can agree that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” Henson wrote on Instagram. She then made reference to Emmett Till, noting that no one went to jail when a black teenager was lynched after being falsely accused of whistling a woman. Henson claimed that her former co-star had already “lost everything” as an artist and suggested that house arrest and probation would have been more fair. “Please #freejussie,” she concluded, followed by a series of praying hands emoji.
The Lovecraft Country actress has previously said she believes her brother is innocent and clearly hasn’t changed her mind. In an Instagram post calling for Smollett’s release, she shared statistics about the disproportionate number of black Americans imprisoned. “You don’t have to believe he’s innocent 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 asked to be punished in a way that did not involve deprivation of liberty. “We often broke bread with this young man as we discussed right and wrong lifestyles,” the couple wrote. “Jassy comes from a good family that we are proud to be intimately familiar with, and who we know are willing to provide the support and supervision they can provide him with an alternative probationary scenario.” The Jacksons also claimed that Smollett had already been punished for the damage done to his reputation and career.
The pardon actress also reportedly wrote to the judge on Smollett’s behalf. She used her letter to talk to Smollett’s character; according to the Independent, she called him “exceptionally kind” and “sympathetic and protective of those with no means since he was a boy”.
Moore addressed Smollett in an Instagram post, writing: “I believe you and I believe you will save lives, the spiritual wisdom of abundance, power and truth – from this bewilderingly unfair and pernicious 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 stomach about him, I have a weird feeling in my stomach about this.”
According to a screenshot taken 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?” wrote Sampson. “How many times have Karen lied to the police UNDER oath a la Emmet Till without any accountability?”
What Jussie Smollett did was stupid as hell. But it’s crazy that he’ll spend more time in prison than the family that is most to blame for America’s opioid epidemic.🧐
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 11, 2022
But I tweet suggests that he believes Smollett staged a hate crime against himself. However, The Daily Show host still disagrees on the length of Smollett’s jail term.