A Chicago judge sentenced Empire actor Jussie Smollett, 39, to 150 days in Cook County Jail and 30 months probation for staging a hate crime in 2019, the New York Daily News reports.
On Thursday, the judge ordered the actor to pay more than $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine for making a false police report.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Smollett had an unexpected outburst after the reading of his sentencing, saying, “I am not suicidal. I am not suicidal, and I am innocent.”
“If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself,” he added.
Police officials led the actor out of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse courtroom as he shouted back into the courtroom while raising his fist, “I could’ve said that I was guilty a long time ago.”
Cook County Judge James Linn chastised Smollett for 30 minutes before handing down his verdict.
“There’s a side of you that has this arrogance and selfishness and narcissism that’s just disgraceful,” Linn said, CNN reports. “You’re not a victim of a racial hate crime; you’re not a victim of a homophobic hate crime. You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime, and that’s shameful.”
“You’ve turned your life upside down with your misconduct and shenanigans,” the judge added, according to the Daily News.
Following the sentencing, Smollett’s siblings rallied to his defense. His brother, Jojo Smollett, expressed his disappointment with the judge to reporters in a news conference.
“He shamed my brother. He spoke about his arrogance,” Jojo said, according to CNN. “He doesn’t know the struggles my brother is encountering. He doesn’t know anything that he’s dealing with.”
Jazz Smollett, the actor’s sister, joined in, adding, “My brother is innocent.”
“This should not be a controversial statement because it is the absolute truth,” she said, CNN reports.
On Jan. 29, 2019, Smollett said two men attacked him and put a rope around his neck while pouring a chemical substance on him and spewing racist and homophobic slurs. Smollett alleges that the men said they were in “MAGA country,” a nod to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
Brothers Abimbola and Olabingo Osundairo testified in court that Smollett paid them $3,500 to stage the attack. Smollett refuted their accusations and said the funds were compensation for workout and meal plans.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb proposed that Smollett serve prison time. However, letters from celebrities such as actors Samuel L. Jackson, Alfre Woodard and Rev. Jesse Jackson were read in the court, pleading for the judge to show leniency.
Smollett’s legal team asked the judge to dismiss the actor’s conviction, which the magistrate denied.
“I do believe at the end of the day that Mr. Smollett received a fair trial,” Linn said, according to the Daily News.
Special prosecutor Webb argued that Smollett misused police resources when he filed a false police report.
“Besides being against the law, it is just plain wrong to outright denigrate something as serious as a real hate crime and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such historical significance in our country,” Webb said, according to the Daily News.