American actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced Thursday to nearly five months in prison by a Chicago court for having staged a racist and homophobic attack in January 2019 of which he claimed to be the victim, an attack which had caused outrage at the time in the United States.
The 39-year-old African-American and gay comedian was found guilty in December of “planning” the fake attack by paying $3,500 to two Nigerian brothers, and of lying to police several times. in his depositions.
“You wanted attention, you wanted to be more famous,” said judge James Linn in passing sentence.
He castigated an “arrogant, selfish and narcissistic” defendant who “premeditated to the extreme” a lie that ultimately had the opposite effect.
“You screwed up your life” and “you harmed the real victims of racist crimes,” he explained.
Jussie Smollett, who was to be imprisoned on Thursday evening, will have to serve the first 150 days in prison and will spend a total of 30 months on probation. He must also reimburse 120,106 dollars corresponding to part of the costs related to the Chicago police investigation.
“I didn’t do that, I’m innocent,” said Jussie Smollett after the sentencing, before leaving the courtroom with a raised fist.
Jussie Smollett’s lawyers and family had previously implored Justice Linn’s clemency and requested an alternative sentence to jail time.
Fallen star of the hit television series “Empire”, Jussie Smollett has always maintained her innocence.
He claims to have been attacked in the middle of the night on January 29, 2019 in a Chicago street by two masked men, claiming to be supporters of President Donald Trump. They reportedly hit him with racist and homophobic slurs and put a noose around his neck.
According to his lawyers, Jussie Smollett was assaulted by Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, two brothers he met on the set of “Empire”, who were motivated by money and one of whom was homophobic.
But for the accusation, the actor engineered the attack to advance his career by taking advantage of his notoriety.
The case had caused a shock in a country still strongly marked by racial and sexual discrimination. The actor had immediately received the support of many personalities from the political and cultural world.