Jussie Smollett gets 150-day jail sentence for staging fake hate crime

Jussie Smollett has been handed a 150-day jail sentence in the hoax hate crime case against him.

The US actor appeared before James Linn, a Chicago judge who served him with the prison sentence on Thursday.

Linn held that the ‘Empire’ star had concocted what he described as a “disgraceful” scheme to fake a hate crime.

In 2019, the actor had reported to the Chicago police the fake hate crime that was discovered to have been staged.

Smollett had planned the incident with Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, the two Nigerian-American brothers, who had worked with him as extras on set.

He had arranged for the brothers to physically attack him close to a surveillance camera while wearing ski masks.

The brothers shouted racial and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him, and placed a noose around his neck.

Since the brothers confessed to the hoax crime, Smollett has been in a legal tussle that climaxed on Thursday.

Before handing down his sentence, Linn asked if Smollett would like to say anything but he declined to comment.

Linn also sentenced Smollett to 30 months probation, the first five of which must be spent in the Cook County jail.

He ordered him to pay the city of Chicago $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine after he was found guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct following his eight-day trial late last year.

Linn said Smollett’s performance during the trial, in which he testified on his own behalf, was “pure perjury.”

“I could’ve said I was guilty a long time ago! I did not do this and I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go there, I did not do it to myself and you must all know that,” Smollett said as he was led away in handcuffs.