Taraji P. Henson publicly supports Jussie Smollett, her former Empire co-star, who was sentenced this week for fabricating a hate crime.
Henson posted on Instagram a picture of the #FREEJUSSIE hashtag on Sunday, writing that the punishment wasn’t proportionate to Smollett’s actions.
“I am not here to debate you on his innocence, but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime,” Henson said. “Emmett Till was brutally beat and ultimately murdered because of a lie, and none of the people involved with his demise spent one day in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims were false. No one was hurt or killed during Jussie’s ordeal. He has already lost everything, EVERYTHING!”
According to Henson, an artist’s inability to continue with their craft is in itself a “prison. Instead, she said, Smollett should be released and placed under house arrest.
“To me as an artist, not able to create that in itself is punishment enough,” she said. “He can’t get a job. No one in Hollywood will hire him, and again as an artist who loves to create, that is prison. My prayer is that he is freed and put on house arrest and probation because, in this case, that would seem fair.”
Smollett told the judge at this week‘s sentencing hearing that he was innocent “I did not do this,” adding that he was afraid of being harmed while in jail. “If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that. … I am not suicidal.”
