Taraji P. Henson isn’t here to debate Jussie Smollett’s innocence. She wants him freed

“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson is defending her TV son, Jussie Smollett, after the actor was just lately convicted on costs of staging a hate crime and sentenced to 150 days in jail.

On Sunday, Henson confirmed help for her former co-star on Instagram by posting a black sq. with the hashtag #FreeJussie. The Emmy and Oscar nominee — who performed Cookie Lyon reverse Smollett’s Jamal Lyon in “Empire” — is amongst a number of Hollywood luminaries who’ve defended Smollett during the last week.

“I’m not right here to debate you on his innocence however we are able to agree that the punishment doesn’t match the crime,” Henson wrote within the caption of her publish.

To underscore her level, Henson in contrast Smollett’s state of affairs to that of Carolyn Bryant, the white lady who admitted in 2017 to mendacity about Emmett Until verbally and bodily assaulting her earlier than Bryant’s husband and his half brother killed the 14-year-old Black youth in 1955 Mississippi. Nobody — together with Bryant, who continues to be alive — ever served jail time for Until’s killing.

In contrast, Smollett — who was accused of mendacity to authorities a few racist, homophobic assault and maintains his innocence — has been sentenced to about 5 months in jail.

“Emmett Until was brutally beat and in the end murdered due to a lie and not one of the folks concerned along with his demise spent in the future in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims had been false,” Henson continued in her assertion.

“Nobody was damage or killed throughout Jussie’s ordeal. He has already misplaced every part, EVERYTHING! To me as an artist … that in itself is punishment sufficient.”

On March 10, a Chicago choose described Smollett’s crime as “a criminal offense of alternative” and a “crime of premeditation” whereas sentencing him to a further 30 months of felony probation and ordering him to pay greater than $120,000 in restitution to town. Not lengthy after suspicions arose about Smollett’s claims, the performer’s “Empire” character was written off the musical drama.

“He can’t get a job,” Henson wrote. “Nobody in Hollywood will rent him and once more as an artist who likes to create, that’s jail. My prayer is that he’s freed and placed on home arrest and probation as a result of on this case that would appear honest. Please #freejussie.”

Henson is just not the primary individual to hyperlink the Smollett case to the Until case since his sentencing. On a latest episode of “The Actual,” “Insecure” star Amanda Seales made the same comparison whereas condemning the end result of Smollett’s trial.

“Why aren’t they bringing costs towards all of the white folks that decision the cops for BS each single day?” Seales stated. “Even when it was a hoax, that is actually taking place on a regular basis. … Emmett Until’s accuser … introduced that she was mendacity about it. They need to have put the shackles on her that day, and he or she’s strolling round.

“Nobody was damage on this state of affairs. No one. You understand what they’re mad about? Their time, their sources … Taxpayers’ sources are getting used each day to imprison individuals who have accomplished nothing however be an addict, so I don’t wish to hear about Jussie Smollett.”

Different leisure figures, together with “The Every day Present” host Trevor Noah and “The Batman” actor Jeffrey Wright, have opposed the wave of public hatred towards Smollett, no matter whether or not he’s harmless or responsible. In solidarity with Smollett, #FreeJussie has been trending this month on social media.

“What Jussie Smollett did was dumb as hell,” Noah tweeted final week. “Nevertheless it’s loopy that he’s gonna spend extra time in jail than the [Sackler] household who’re largely in charge for America’s opioid epidemic.”

“Jussie Smollett screwed up,” Wright tweeted. “Now he’s going through penalties. However the fiending obsession with him is bizarre. They bought extra venom for him than for the sociopath who bombs a maternity hospital after which lies about it. Odd stuff.”