Actor Jussie Smollett has been jailed for 150 days after being found guilty of staging a fake hate crime.
The 39-year-old star of Empire filed police reports in January 2019 claiming he had been attacked in Chicago by two men who had tied a noose around his neck.
Smollett, who is gay, alleged the men had shouted “MAGA country” – a reference to President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan – and used homophobic and racist slurs while punching him.
But after Chicago Police Department officers combed through CCTV and thoroughly investigated the case, they accused the actor of staging the attack to boost his TV profile and earnings.
In December, a jury of six men and six women found Smollett guilty on five felony charges involving lies to police.
On Thursday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Linn also ordered Smollett to pay over $120,000 in restitution and fined him $25,000.
“I know that there is nothing that I will do here today that can come close to the damage you’ve already done to your own life,” said Judge Linn. “You’ve destroyed your life as you knew it.”
Smollett’s acting career declined after the incident. He lost his role as a singer-songwriter in the final season of "Empire," a Fox television hip-hop drama that ended a five-year run in 2020.
He has the right to appeal and said in court that he was innocent.
“If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBT community,” Smollett said, standing up at the defence table as his lawyers and sheriff’s deputies surrounded him.
“Your Honor, I respect you and I respect the jury but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
As deputies led him from the courtroom, Smollett shouted out again.
“I am innocent,” he shouted, raising his fist. “I could have said I am guilty a long time ago.”
Special prosecutor Dan Webb asked Judge Linn to include “an appropriate amount of prison time” when sentencing the actor for his conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.
“His conduct denigrated hate crimes,” Mr Webb said after the hearing. “His conduct will discourage others who are victims of hate crimes from coming forward and reporting those crimes to law enforcement.”
Smollett’s attorneys wanted the judge to limit the sentence to community service, arguing that he had already been punished by the criminal justice system and damage to his career.
Family members echoed those comments.
“I ask you, judge, not to send him to prison,” his grandmother, 92-year-old Molly Smollett, told the court. She later added, “If you do, send me along with him, OK?”
