Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted Jussie Smollett on Thursday and said the 39-year-old disgraced actor’s sentence for staging a racist hate crime should send a message to others who’d make bogus claims.
“The criminal conviction of Jussie Smollett by a jury of his peers and today’s sentencing should send a clear message to everyone in the City of Chicago that false claims and allegations will not be tolerated,” Lightfoot said in a statement after Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail by a Chicago judge.
“The malicious and wholly fabricated claim made by Mr. Smollett resulted in over 1500 hours of police work that cost the City over $130,000 in police overtime,” the mayor continued. “The City feels vindicated in today’s ruling that he is being held accountable and that we will appropriately receive restitution for his actions.”
Jussie Smollett’s hate crime case ended dramatically on Thursday when a Chicago judge sentenced him to five months in jail for making a “disgraceful” scene to fake a hate crime, prompting the disgraced actor to scream out in protest: “I’m innocent!”
Judge James Linn also ordered the former ‘Empire’ actor to pay Chicago $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine.
