Jussie Smollett to be released from jail on bond pending appeal

Jussie Smollett, the former Empire star who was recently sentenced to 150 days in Cook County Jail for lying to police about a staged hate crime, has been ordered to be released pending the appeal of his conviction.

In a 2-1 decision, an appeals court agreed with Smollett's lawyers that he could be released after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, according to the Associated Press. Per the ruling, he doesn't have to put down money but agrees to come to court as required.

Last week, Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, the first five of which were to be spent in jail. The judge also denied a request to suspend Smollett's sentence, ordering the actor be placed in custody immediately.

Smollett's lawyers filed an emergency motion Monday arguing that his sentence would be completed by the time the appeal process was litigated, and that their client could be in physical danger if he remained in jail.

EW has reached out to Smollett's attorney Nenye Uche for comment on his release.

Smollett has consistently maintained his innocence, and at his sentencing hearing said several times times that he was not suicidal, adding, "If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you all must know that."

His lawyers said Smollett had initially been placed in a "psych ward" with a note indicating he was at risk of self-harm, but the actor's younger brother Jocqui said in an Instagram video Monday that he had been moved to a regular cell.

The increasingly knotty case dates back to January 2019, when Smollett, who is Black and openly gay, told Chicago authorities that two men yelled racist and homophobic slurs at and attacked him, poured an unknown chemical substance on him, and wrapped a rope around his neck.

A month later, prosecutors charged Smollett with filing a false report, before dropping the charges in March 2019. Then in February 2020, Smollett was indicted again on similar charges, accused of making four separate false reports to Chicago police. In court in December 2021, prosecutors maintained that Smollett orchestrated the attack with the two men — brothers who testified that the actor paid them to do so — to gain publicity, and Smollett was convicted on five felony counts of disorderly conduct.

Smollett's Empire costar Taraji P. Henson was among supporters — also including Alfre Woodard, Samuel L. Jackson, and Smollett's sister Jurnee — calling for the actor's release. Henson wrote in an Instagram post following his sentencing that "the punishment does not fit the crime," and that not being able to create as an artist was "punishment enough" for him.

"He can't get a job," Henson wrote. "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."

Related content:

• Taraji P. Henson calls for Empire costar Jussie Smollett's freedom from jail after sentencing
• Jussie Smollett sentenced to 150 days in jail in staged hate crime
• Jussie Smollett's sister Jurnee breaks silence on his alleged attack: 'It's been f---ing painful'