Disgraced Hollywood actor Jussie Smollett threw a temper tantrum in court on Thursday as he was jailed by the judge and guards came to take him to the notorious Cook County Jail.
Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of felony probation and 150 days in prison.
The sentencing came after he was previously convicted for staging an anti-Trump hate crime against himself and lying to the police.
He was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $120,000 and a $25,000 fine for making false reports to police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019.
Smollett did not go quietly, however.
After learning his fate he threw a temper tantrum saying: “Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
As he was being led to jail, he yelled that he was innocent again and raised a fist in the air.
“There’s a side of you that has this arrogance, and selfishness and narcissism that’s just disgraceful,” the judge said.
“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.”
BREAKING: Smollett screams “im not suicidal!” As he was taken into custody pic.twitter.com/b6kkxxPmNg
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) March 11, 2022
“He wants to get it over with,” said Tom Wilson, a Cleveland-based investor and longtime friend of Smollett who said he would return to film work if he is not locked up.
“Jussie was the first to volunteer, and got all sorts of medical and other supplies out to [the Haitian town of] Jacmel during the earthquake,” said Wilson.
“In 2018, he organized a tour of Europe and gave all of the proceeds to charity.”
Some big names begged the judge to give Smollett a break at sentencing in letters to the judge asking for leniency.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, wrote “Jussie has a long track record of being a deeply engaged and contributing citizen…Jussie has already suffered.”
Actor Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, actress LaTanya Jackson, also wrote a letter to the judge that said in part, “I humbly implore you to please find an alternative to incarceration.”
Defense attorney Nenye Uche said he disagreed with the jury’s verdict and that the defense would appeal and win in appellate court.
“He (Smollett) is 100% confident that this will be reversed on appeal,” Uche said.
“At the end of the day, we believe justice will prevail.
“We don’t believe it was done (in December) but we’re very confident that he will be cleared and he will be found to be innocent.”
