Judge James Linn has labelled disgraced Empire actor, Jussie Smollett a “disgrace” while handing down a 150 day sentence to the star.
Smollet, who rose to fame when portraying Jamal Lyon on the Fox drama, Empire was found guilty in December 2022 of orchestrating an elaborate hoax where he claimed he was targeted due to his race and sexuality, noosed and doused in an “unknown liquid”.
While the actor maintains his innocence, claiming he did not pay two Nigerian brothers $3500 to perform the hate crime hoax, Judge Lind handed down a sentence of 150 days behind bars along with 30 months felony probation, $120,106 restitution to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.
Judge Berates Jussie Smollet as He Sentences Him to Time in the Big House
The judge also ripped into the celeb for the hypocrisy involved in engineering a hate crime hoax and noted that Smollet was not motivated by money but instead by his craving for attention and the misguided notion that he could boost his profile by “tapping into the social justice movement in America”.
“You’re not the victim of a racist hate crime, you’re not the victim of a homophobic hate crime, you’re just a charlatan pretending to be the victim of a hate crime and that’s shameful, Judge Linn said while insinuating that Smollett wanted to enhance his level of fame by throwing himself a “national pity party”.
He didn’t hold back, calling the 39 year old arrogant, selfish, narcissistic, and explained to him how much damage he has done to real victims of hate crimes.
Smolettet, who will begin his sentence immediately, claimed yet again, “I’m innocent”.Duration 0:15
“I did not do this and I am not suicidal,” he explained in a somewhat bizarre diatribe. “If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself and you must all know that.”
He left the court with his fist punching the air (ala Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club)
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