(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Moments after hoax-hate crime convict Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jails, the disgraced former “Empire” actor broke straight into his next performance-art con, sowing conspiracy-theory seeds and howling continued protestations of his innocence.
Smollett was sentenced late Thursday to 30 months of felony probation, with five months served in jail, and ordered that he pay $120,106 in restitution to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine, according to the Associated Press.
“I would just like to say, your honor, that I am not suicidal,” Smollett croaked after the sentence was read.
“Okay,” deadpanned Cook County Judge James Linn.
“I am not suicidal,” Smollett repeated.
“Okay,” Linn repeated.
“I am not suicidal,” Smollett bleated, growing increasingly agitated. “I am innocent and I am not suicidal.
“If I did this, then it means I stuck my fist in the fears of black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBTQ community,” Smollett said.
Wait, what? “If I did this.”
Jussie Smollett after the sentencing: “I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, you must all know that.” pic.twitter.com/xe2wYpQJ4O
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 11, 2022
Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct—the charge filed for lying to police—of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.
Smollett had concocted and staged a hate crime on himself in January, 2019, claiming that he had been attacked by MAGA-loving racists who beat him up, tied a noose around his neck and soaked him with bleach.
Then lied about it to police and everyone else, including the jury that found him guilty.
“Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury,” Smollett said Thursday, after spending months trying to dupe the judge and jury he respected.
“But I did not do this, and I am not suicidal,” he said.
“And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that,” he said. “I respect you, your honor. I respect your decision. Jail time [pause]. I am not suicidal.”
The judge blasted Smollett for his crimes, his unrelenting lies and for the damage he’s wreaked for actual hate-crime victims.
“There’s a side of you that has this arrogance, and selfishness and narcissism that’s just disgraceful,” the judge said, according to CNN.
”You’re not a victim of a racial hate crime, you’re not a victim of a homophobic hate crime,” the judge said.
“You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime, and that’s shameful.”
Smollett never broke character as a shameless charlatan.
“I am innocent,” he yelled with a raised fist, as deputies led him from the courtroom. “I could have said I am guilty a long time ago.”
BREAKING: Smollett screams “im not suicidal!” As he was taken into custody pic.twitter.com/b6kkxxPmNg
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) March 11, 2022
Somewhere, Vice President Kamala Harris is cringing, although it would be hard to tell through her normal rictus grin.
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) March 11, 2022
