Actor Jussie Smollett, who claimed he was the victim of a racist attack, has just been sentenced to 150 days in jail and a fine of $25,000. He will also have to pay $120,106 restitution to the city of Chicago, which spent three times that responding to and investigating what turned out to be a fake crime.
In her decision, the Judge admonished the ‘Empire actor’ for faking a ‘racist, homophobic attack’ in Chicago in 2019 and described him as ‘profoundly arrogant, selfish and narcissistic.’
Smollett had falsely claimed two men followed him down a street late at night, yelling racial slurs before tossing an “unknown chemical substance” on him and placing a noose around his neck.
Later, it was discovered Smollett paid brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo $3,500 to stage the attack. The brothers later testified to this in court.
Smollett could have received three years in prison after being found guilty on all five counts of lying to police about the attack.
Prosecutors said Smollett had tried to blame someone else for the verdict at every turn.
‘He blamed the prosecutors, the courtroom staff, the sheriffs, the entire cook county judicial system, he’s blamed COVID-19, he’s blamed the media, he’s blamed ‘political figures’, witnesses at trial and he has even blamed the jury itself,’ prosecutor Sean Wieber said.
Even after sentencing, Smollett loudly maintained his innocence and yelled at the judge that if anything happened to him in jail, it was the responsibility of the judge who had sentenced him.