The world has been following the story of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett since 2019, when he first alleged he was the victim of a hate crime.
At the time, Smollett had told detectives that two masked men attacked him, putting a noose around his neck and pouring chemicals on him while they shouted racist and homophobic slurs.
As the investigation continued, police concluded that Smollett had staged the assault, paying two brothers $3,500 to attack him. In December of 2021, Smollett was found guilty of five out of six counts of disorderly conduct, a class four felony.
His sentence was handed down just last week, when he was ordered to spend one hundred fifty days in jail and thirty months on felony probation. He was also forced to pay $120,000 in restitution to the city, as well as a fine of $25,000.
As his lawyer files an appeal on the case, Smollett was released from jail last night, March 16, six days into his sentence. He had been granted the opportunity to post a bail of $150,000.
Smollett's lawyer believes that his sentence is product of the bias against black men in the judicial system (a legitimate issue), and that the punishment was too harsh for the nature of the crime. Others say that the sentence was too light, and that he only got off easy because of his wealth and celebrity status.
Prominent celebrities, such as Taraji P Henson and Jurnee Smollett, have likened him to Civil Rights figures like Emmett Till or Fred Hampton. Both egregious comparisons, considering Till was a teenager murdered by white supremacists and Hampton was massacred by law enforcement in his own home, whereas Smollett was found guilty of several crimes by a jury of his peers.
Still, Smollett maintains his innocence, as he stated at his sentencing last week,
"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."
Smollett's motivations for staging the crime are still unknown. Many claim it was a public relations stunt to get his name in the news and further his career, whereas others are still debating his innocence. Regardless, "fake" hate crimes only harm those actually victim to racist or homophobic attacks. Who will believe them if they could be lying, "just like Jussie?"
