Taraji P. Henson, actress, came to defend Jussie Smollett on Sunday. He was serving a 150-day sentence for murdering Emmett Till and was seeking his release.
Henson posted the following Instagram: “I am not here for you to debate his innocence, but we can agree the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”
Henson said that Emmett Till was brutally beaten and eventually killed because of a lie. Henson added that no one involved in his death spent a single day in jail, even Carolyn Bryant confessed her false claims. “No one was injured or killed during Jussie’s ordeal.”
She stated that Smollett (39) is already under punishment because he cannot get a Hollywood acting job.
My prayer is for him to be released and placed on house arrest and probation, as that would seem just in this situation. Henson requested that he be released and placed on house arrest, along with the #FreeJussie hashtag.
Smollett’s sister Jurnee Smollett (also an actress) used the hashtag over the weekend. “Black Americans are held in state prisons at almost five times the rate as White Americans.” She wrote that Jussie was innocent. “And… You don’t need to believe in his innocence to believe that he should be allowed to go free.”
Smollett’s brother Jocqui Smollett also declared his brother’s innocence Sunday. Smollett was being held at Chicago’s Cook County Jail in a “psychiatric ward”.
After submitting a January 2019 report alleging that had been brutally attacked in Chicago’s Streeterville neighbourhood, Smollett was taken into custody on February 21, 2019.
Smollett is Black and gay. He said that two men punched and kicked him. They also used homophobic and racist slurs.
Olabingo Osundairo and Abimbola were arrested during the police investigation. They were later released. The authorities claimed that Smollett had recruited his brothers to attack his career. This claim is denied by him.
Smollett was found guilty of five of six charges against his, including felony disorderly behavior . Smollett was not found guilty of aggravated battery.
Smollett requested a new trial last month.
Thursday was his sentence. Smollett was told by James Linn, Cook County Circuit Judge, that he was just a charlatan who pretends to be a victim in a hate crime.
Smollett replied by saying, “I’m not suicidal!” He claimed he was innocent, and that “if anything happens when I go into there, it is not something I did to myself.”