'I couldn’t care less about his problems': Megyn Kelly fumes at Jussie Smollett
Independent journalist Megyn Kelly expressed her displeasure with convicted hate-crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett's antics after his sentencing on Thursday evening. Kelly and her Friday show guest Dave Rubin discussed the "Empire" actor's situation and Kelly stated that she didn't "feel sorry for him at all," despite the fact that he may be struggling with personal issues.
Kelly referenced Cook County Judge James Linn's verbal thrashing before the punishment, as well as Smollett's brother Jojo's pleadings for mercy, claiming the judge was uninformed of the actor's issues. "He doesn’t know the struggles my brother is encountering. He doesn’t know anything that he’s dealing with," Jojo explained.
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After being sentenced to 150 days in the Cook County Jail, as well as probation and about $150,000 in fines and reparations, the actor went on a brief rant. "I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, you must all know that," Smollett claimed, asserting that he was innocent of the crimes leveled against him.
Kelly, on the other hand, stated that she was done with it. "We don’t care! I couldn’t care less what struggles he’s encountering. You’re going to prison because you did lie." Kelly explained, "You actually involved a lot of the Chicago P.D. time, took up a lot of their time when they could have been solving murders and real crimes out in the streets of Chicago. I don’t feel sorry for him at all."
"I'm not fully aware of the catalogue of all of his acting work, but I am sure that was the best performance of his life..."@RubinReport on Jussie Smollett's latest outburst during hate crime hoax sentencing. Watch & subscribe: https://t.co/Y12z2uKGMbhttps://t.co/gM6LO4MUag
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) March 11, 2022
Kelly's opinion echoed some of the primary concerns raised by Judge Linn, who lectured Smollett for about 30 minutes before handing down his sentence on Thursday. Smollett had squandered important Chicago resources and harmed victims of real hate crimes, according to the judge, when he devised and then participated in the execution of a fake hate crime against himself, all in the name of gaining fame.
"Judge to Jussie Smollett: I don’t think you did it for the money … only thing I can find is you craved attention," Fox News' Matt Finn tweeted as Judge Linn practically read Smollett the riot act before of his sentencing.
"Judge to Jussie Smollett: you have done some real damage (to hate crime victims)," Finn added. "Judge to Smollett: you premediated this to an extreme that is amazing. You wrote a script.. that involved words… you encountered me on the street… that’s not a good script… especially for Streeterville in Chicago ."
"They never did get the noose around your neck. I repeat, you put the noose around your own neck," Judge Linn said, adding that he thought the jury had made the right decision in convicting Smollett.