Actor Jussie Smollett jailed for 150 days after staging hate crime against himself
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Mark McQuillan
Former Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 150 days in jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack he staged against himself.
The actor was branded a "narcissistic charlatan" by the judge for staging the hate crime in January 2019, in an attempt to grab the limelight while America grappled with issues of racial injustice.
After the sentencing, Smollett raised his fist and yelled: “I am innocent. I could have said I am guilty a long time ago.”
The actor, who is Black and gay, reported to police that he was beaten by two masked men, who hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him on a dark Chicago street and ran off.
The judge sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, with 150 days served in Cook County Jail, and ordered that he pay $120,106 in restitution to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.
Smollett was convicted in December after a trial in which two brothers testified that he recruited them to fake an attack on him near his home in central Chicago.
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The brothers said Smollett orchestrated the hoax, telling them to put a noose around his neck and rough him up in view of a surveillance camera, and that he said he wanted video of the hoax made public via social media.
Prosecutors said he told them what racist and homophobic slurs to shout, and to yell that Smollett was in “MAGA Country”, a reference to the campaign slogan of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Smollett, who knew the men from his work on the television show Empire that filmed in Chicago, testified that he did not recognise them and did not know they were the men attacking him.
During the hearing, Smollett's 92-year-old grandmother Molly Smollett begged the judge not to send her grandson to prison, adding: “If you do, send me along with him, OK?”
Lawyers representing the actor read aloud letters from supporters including the actor Samuel L. Jackson, that asked the judge to consider the case’s effect on Smollett’s life and career.
But special prosecutor Dan Webb said Smollett's conduct had "denigrated hate crimes" and would discourage others who were victims from coming forward.
Supporters also spoke about worries that Smollett would be at risk in prison, specifically mentioning his race, sexual orientation and his family’s Jewish heritage.
After the sentencing, Smollett said: "I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that."
Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct - the charge filed for lying to police - of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.
Before the sentencing, experts predicted Smollett would not be sent to prison since the conviction was for a low-level nonviolent crime.