This booking photo provided by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office shows Jussie Smollett. A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail Thursday, March 10, 2022, branding the Black and gay actor a charlatan for staging a hate crime against himself while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
The co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement is demanding disgraced actor Jussie Smollett be released from prison. In a recent interview, Patrisse Cullors said she visited Smollett in a psych ward at the Cook County Jail in Chicago, where he had been sleeping on a “restraint bed.”
The Empire star is serving a five-month sentence after being convicted on charges stemming from staging a hate crime in which he paid two men to pretend to beat him up, tie a noose around his neck and shout racist slurs at him. Despite this, Cullors urged people to keep tagging #FreeJussie on social media and call the jail to release him.
“We need folks to call the jails and check up on him, but also say that you think she should be freed,” she stated. “And the last thing is we need folks to challenge the misinformation and disinformation around this case, that’s so critical its completely. What happened to Jussie could happen to any of us and it’s completely unacceptable.”
Hey guys! The founder of the LGBTQ organization “Black Lives Matter” Patrisse Cullors wants us to use the hashtag #FreeBussie and to continue calling the detention center so we can help free him . Will you do it? ???? pic.twitter.com/uiNGG53xH0
— Rich (@blackfirst718) March 14, 2022
This comes as Smollett’s legal team has filed an emergency motion to pause his sentence and grant bond as they claim he is in harm’s way as long as he is behind bars.
