Before his sentencing this week, Jussie Smollett received widespread support from celebrities and public figures including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose tweets backing the "Empire" star remained up on Twitter despite the fact Smollett now faces 150 days in prison for faking a hate crime.
Hours after the alleged 2019 beating, Biden, then a presidential hopeful, tweeted: "What happened today to @jussiesmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie."
That same day, Harris, who was then a California senator and presidential candidate, shared her own tweet calling the alleged attack a "modern day lynching."
"JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know," she wrote. "I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate."
Smollett, who is Black and openly gay, was convicted in December on five of six charges of staging a 2019 attack that made it look as if a racist, homophobic hate crime was committed against him, Newsweek reported.
On Thursday he was sentenced to 30 months of felony probation with no travel restrictions, $120,106 in restitution to the city, and a $25,000 fine. He will spend the first 150 days of his sentence in the Cook County Jail.
After his sentencing, Smollett insisted he was innocent, yelling, "I could have said I am guilty a long time ago," according to Newsweek.
"If anything happens to me when I go in there I did not do it to myself," Smollett added as he was led from court.
In response, Cook County Judge James Linn told Smollett that his "very name has become the adverb of lying."
"You're just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime, and that's shameful," the judge said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.