Taraji P. Henson took to social media over the weekend to speak out in support of Jussie Smollett, who was sentenced to 150 days in jail for his hate crime hoax.
The award-winning actress who played Jussie’s mother on the hit series, “Empire,” said regardless of his guilt or innocence, his punishment does not fit the crime.
She went on to compare Jussie Smollett to Emmett Till saying the 14-year-old was brutally beaten and murdered over a lie and those who were responsible for his death never spent a day in jail.
Taraji P. Henson wrote:
I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime.
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!
To me as an artist not able to create that in itself is punishment enough. 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. Please #freejussie ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
See her original post below.
I love Taraji P. Henson like a play cousin and I can totally understand why she feels Jussie Smollett’s punishment may not fit his crime.
But, to compare Jussie’s unfortunate plight to an innocent child being brutally murdered.
What are your thoughts on Taraji’s post?
I thought her comparison was made to Emmett Till’s murderers, not to Emmett himself. Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that Mr. Smollett needs help and we can probably also agree that the outcome would have likely been different were he not a POC.