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#FREEJUSSIE: Taraji P Henson slammed for wanting Jussie Smollett released, says 'no one was hurt'

Jussie Smollett's co-star Taraji P Henson shared a post on Instagram calling for Smollett's release after he was sentenced to 150 days in prison and 30 months of probation for faking a hate crime

Taraji P Henson, the former on-screen mom of Jussie Smollett's character Jamal in the Fox drama 'Empire', shared a post on Instagram calling for Smollett's release after he was sentenced to 150 days in prison and 30 months of probation for faking a hate crime. On Sunday, 13 March, just three days after Smollett was sentenced, Henson shared a post with "#FREEJUSSIE" typed in white text on a black background.

In 2019, 39-year-old actor Jussie Smollett claimed he had been attacked by two men who had allegedly used racist and homophobic slurs against him on a night out in Chicago. His story later unraveled, and he was convicted of faking the hate attack last year. Henson and Smollett are quite close to each other after working together on 'Empire', so she suggested the custodial sentence given to the disgraced star by a Chicago judge last week was too harsh, and that the actor should be allowed to serve it at home instead.

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Along with her post, she wrote the caption, "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," she added.

In her caption, she even brought up different incidents when people were not punished, for example, not arresting people related to the devastating and unfortunate event of white racist lynching 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in August 1955 and sentencing the actor for such a long time for such crime, and asked to see the brutality behind the judgment.

Henson's post was liked by several celebrities, including Gabrielle Union and Leslie Jordan. But, it's not how everyone feels, many Twitter users are furious that the actress is linking Emmett Till with Smollett, and they feel like Smollett is lucky enough that he is getting such punishment for his crime.

A Twitter user wrote, "@tarajiphenson really! Comparing Jussie Smollet to emit till!? What’s wrong with u Celebs. crazy af!" Another one tweeted, "@tarajiphenson Jesse is lucky the judge didn't give him 3 years for his stupidity alone. Evidence says guilty as sin and he's a sociopath. So obvious."

"R U serious ???? U make it sound like he is your little boy This man is POS get real you are an example of #blackprivilege Get a life he is lucky he got 5 months the little wimp trying to incite divisive violence thru creating a LIE Very disappointing in you," another furious user wrote.

Another also commented, "You can call it victimless, but he caused over $100K in wasted resources, and incited wall to wall media coverage, supposedly to further his career. Punishment sounds harsh bc it's rarely ever happened. Judge had to send a message that you just can't do that. Jail was necessary."