Taraji P. Henson invokes Emmett Till in call for Jussie Smollett’s release
“Empire” actress Taraji Henson called for her former TV son, Jussie Smollett, to be released from jail – and compared the hate-crime faker’s case to that of Emmett Till, the black teen who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
Henson, 51, who played Smollett’s character’s mother, Cookie, on Fox’s acclaimed drama, shared a post on Instagram on Sunday with the hashtag #FreeJussie as she argued that the disgraced actor be allowed to serve his 150 days at home.
“I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime,” the Oscar-nominated star wrote.
“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,” she wrote.
“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,” Henson continued.
“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.
Henson’s post — which drew more than 47,000 likes, including from actors Gabrielle Union and Leslie Jordan — echoed letters read in court during Smollett’s sentencing last week.
Alfre Woodard, Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, and others vouched for the fallen star and urged Judge James Linn not to sentence him to jail.
But no one invoked the name of Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered on Aug. 28, 1955, after being accused of offending Carolyn Bryant Donham, 21, in her family’s grocery store in 1955.
The black teen whistled at the white woman during a time when the segregated South was deep in the throes of Jim Crow rules and racial injustice.
Bryant’s husband and a second white man later tracked Emmett down and shot and bludgeoned him to death. They were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury after an hour’s deliberation — but later admitted their guilt.
More than 50 years after Emmett’s heinous murder, Donham admitted she lied when she claimed he grabbed her and made sexual advances to her.
Last week, Congress approved a bill — the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act — that would make lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in US history.
After Henson’s post reportedly drew fire, she disabled her comment section.
Meanwhile, Smollett, 39, has been thrown into the psych ward at a Chicago jail because of a paperwork snafu, his brother claims.
“What’s very concerning is that there was a note attached to the paperwork today, and it said on the front of his jail cell … that he is at risk of self-harm,” Jocqui Smollett said on Instagram.
“I want to just make it clear to folks that he is in no way shape or form at risk to self-harm and he wants to let folks know that, that he is very stable, he is very strong, he is very healthy and ready to take on the challenge that ultimately has been put up against him,” the sibling said in the post Saturday.
Last week, officials said Jussie Smollett, who ranted he wasn’t suicidal as he was hauled out of court, would be held in protective custody.
The actor was found guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct after an eight-day trial stemming from the staged 2019 assault.
