Actress Taraji P. Henson is speaking out in support of former Empire co-star Jussie Smollett three days after he was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation for staging a hate crime against himself. Smollett, who claimed in 2019 that he'd been attacked by two men using racist and homophobic slurs, played her character Cookie's son Jamal in the Fox series.
An Instagram post shared by Henson on Sunday features a black box with the hashtag #FreeJussie. In her caption, the Oscar-nominated star begged for leniency for Smollett, 39.
While Smollett has maintained his innocence — making a heated outburst in a Chicago courtroom on Thursday — Henson noted in her post that she was "not here to debate you on his innocence." She does, however, feel that his punishment "does not fit the crime," arguing that, unlike the false allegations that led to the brutal 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Black teen Emmett Till, Smollett's "ordeal" was victim-less.
"I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime," Henson, 51, wrote. "Emmett Till was brutally beat and ultimately murdered because of a lie and none of the people involved with his demise spent one day in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims were false. No one was hurt or killed during Jussie’s ordeal."
She went on to suggest that house arrest and probation would be a more fitting punishment for her former onscreen son, who she says has "lost...
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