Jussie Smollett is receiving jail time followed by probation for staging an apparent hate crime against himself and filing a false police report. On Thursday, Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced the former “Empire” star to 150 days in county jail and 30 months of felony probation, after a Chicago jury found him guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct, “People” confirmed. Additionally, the actor will have to pay $120,106 in restitution and a fine of $25,000 for his involvement in the January 2019 incident, per “People.” On Jan. 29, 2019, Smollett claimed two men attacked him on his way home. The actor alleged that the masked men, since identified as Abimbola “Bola” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, called him racist and homophobic slurs during the attack, put a rope around his neck, and doused him with bleach. Per prosecutors, Smollett paid the brothers $3,500 to carry out the assault, “People” reported. During the sentencing on Thursday, Judge Linn told the actor, “You threw a national pity party for yourself. You wanted to make yourself more famous, and for a while, it worked.”
Following his sentencing, Smollett told the courts, “I did not do this and I am not suicidal, and if anything happens to me when I go [to jail], I didn’t do it to myself and you must all remember that,” per the New York Times. His attorney, Nenye Uche, added, “Why are we jumping up and down and acting like this is a murder case? It’s not.”
The actor was first arrested in February 2019 and indicted on 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report in March 2019. The charges were dropped suddenly at the end of that month. In early 2020, Smollett’s case was revived by special prosecutor Dan Webb.
Smollett’s reps declined POPSUGAR’s request for comment. His attorney did not immediately respond.
