Ex-Empire star Jussie Smollet has been sentenced to jail for staging a hate crime.
On Thursday, the actor was found guilty on 5 counts of disorderly conduct with the judge ordering him to spend five month behind bars.
After announcing the sentence, Judge James Linn stated that the actor concocted a “disgraceful” scheme to fake a hate crime, causing Smollett to scream out in protest:
“I’m innocent!”
The 39-year-old actor was then led away in handcuffs after bellowing:
“I could’ve said I was guilty a long time ago!”
“I did not do this and I am not suicidal and if anything happens to me when I go there, I did not do it to myself and you must all know that.”
Before his sentenced was passed, the Cook County Judge asked the actor if he’d like to say anything but he declined, with his attorney Nenye Ache explaining he had advised against this as their plan is to appeal the conviction.
After Judge Linn was finished berating Smollett for pretending to be a hate crime victim, the actor started shouting to the court, appearing to believe there was some kind of conspiracy against him:
“I am not suicidal. I am innocent and I’m not suicidal. If I did this, then it means that I shoved my fist in the fears of black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBTQ community,”
“Your honor, I respect you and I respect your decision, but I did not do this and I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that.”
Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of probation, the first five of which must be spent in Cook County Jail.
Smollett was also ordered to pay the city of Chicago $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine after he was found guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct.
The sentence comes almost three years after the California-born actor asked two men to “fake beat him up” tie a noose around his neck, douse him in bleach and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him, on Streeterville Street corner near his apartment.
Former chief of the Chicago Police Department had previously stated Smollett planned the hoax in order to get a raise on the set of “Empire”, Linn disagreed with that notion however, saying the actor was purely motivated by a “national pity party” and “attention”.
