Hate crime hoaxer and disgraced actor Jussie Smollett has been sentenced on Thursday to 150 days in Cook County jail, 30 months of probation, pay a restitution of $120,106, and a fine of $25,000.
The actor repeatedly shouted, “I am innocent, and I am not suicidal,” as he was hauled off to jail.
“You’re just a charlatan, pretending to be a victim of a hate crime,” Judge James Linn said to Smollett. “Your very name has become an adverb for ‘lying.'”
“Your performance on the witness stand can only be described as pure perjury,” the judge added. “You are now a permanently convicted felon.”
“There is nothing that I can do here today that will come close to the damage you’ve already done to your own life,” Judge Linn said before delivering the sentencing. “You turned your life upside down by your misconduct and shenanigans.”
Watch below:
Judge Linn added that Smollett’s “hypocrisy is astounding,” given that the actor has taken a keen interest in social justice issues for many years, yet staged a hate crime against himself, because he “really craved attention.”
“I believe that you did damage to real hate crime victims,” the judge said to Smollett.
“The officer asked you a simple question. And then you start to lie and haven’t stopped lying since,” the judge said. “You’ve been lying and lying and lying about this case, and that’s why you’re here today.”
Judge added that “This can only be described as pure perjury,” when Smollett got on the witness stand and “committed hour upon hour upon hour of pure perjury.”
Smollett arrived late to his own sentencing, with his bodyguards knocking one photographer to the ground.
Smollett’s sentencing comes three months after the disgraced actor was found guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report after he hired two brothers from Nigeria to stage a fake hate crime against him.
The actor returned to a Chicago courtroom, where he was given the chance to admit that he had lied to police about the racist and homophobic attack in January 2019.
During the trial, prosecutors showcased how Smollett had gone through extraordinary lengths in January 2019 to stage a hate crime against himself, in which he hired and paid Nigerian brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo to carry out the attack.
Smollett had claimed he was physically attacked by two men wearing MAGA hats who put a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him, and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him, before eventually yelling, “This is MAGA country!” — referring to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
The brothers later testified that Smollett gave them money to buy the rope they turned into a noose to put around his neck, and the ski masks to hide their faces.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.