Report: Jussie Smollett Thinks He Only Got Jail Time Because of ‘Systemic Racism’

Actor Jussie Smollett is led out of the courtroom after being sentenced at the Leighton Cr
Brian Cassella-Pool/Getty Images
Alana Mastrangelo

Hate crime hoaxer and disgraced actor Jussie Smollett believes the primary reason he was sentenced to jail is because he is black, according to a report by TMZ.

Sources in direct touch with Smollett told the outlet that the former Empire actor fully expected to get jail time due to the color of his skin, and Smollett believes his sentencing is more evidence of “systemic racism” in the judicial system.

Smollett reportedly took issue with “the animosity the judge showed toward him.” During the sentencing, Judge James Linn speculated that Smollett undertook the hoax attack on himself because he “really craved the attention,” labeling the actor “a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime.”

“Your very name has become an adverb for ‘lying,'” the judge said. “Your performance on the witness stand, this can only be described as pure perjury.”

In January 2019, Smollett claimed he was physically attacked by two men wearing red 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!” in reference to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

Police later concluded Smollett had paid two Nigerian men to perform the attack, hoping it would be caught on a security camera.

On Thursday, Judge Linn sentenced Smollett to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation, pay a restitution of $120,106, and a fine of $25,000.

 

After being sentenced, Smollett repeatedly shouted, “I am not suicidal, and I am innocent” as he was being hauled off to jail.

On Saturday, Smollett’s brother Jocqui Smollett revealed that the actor has been placed in a psych ward at the Cook County jail.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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