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- Jussie Smollett’s grandmother, 92, wagged her finger at the judge, telling him ‘send me along with him’ if he’s jailed.
- Smollett put his hand over his heart and teared up as she took the stand on his behalf.
- Smollett is being sentenced for lying about a racist and homophobic attack he orchestrated.
The 92-year-old grandmother of Jussie Smollett took the witness stand on his behalf at his sentencing on Thursday, blasting into “the media” and telling the judge that if he goes to jail, she wants to go with him.
“I ask you, judge, not to send him to prison,” the petite woman said from the witness stand. Then she wagged a finger at him.
“And if you do, send me along with him. Thank you, your honor.”
The elder Smollett called her grandson a “justice warrior” who has donated his time to the causes of AIDS and voting rights, and said the man she knows and loves does not match up with the media’s portrayal of him.
“I’m talking about you guys,” the former New York City film editor scolded the press in the courtroom.
“You have not done a good job of investigative reporting. You have got to do better,” she said.
The ex-Empire actor appeared to tear up and put his hand over his heart as his grandmother, Molly Smollett of New Mexico, took the stand as one of four character witnesses asking the sentencing judge for leniency.
Smollett, 39, was convicted in December 2021 of five felony counts of disorderly conduct. He had been charged with filing false police reports stating he had been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack.
Others who spoke included Smollett’s brother and two of his closest friends, one of them Richard Daniels, 61, who met the actor as the music director for the television series.
Smollett faces up to three years in prison.
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