Few expected Jussie Smollett to go to prison on his five counts of disorderly conduct. Experts opined that the judge would put him on probation and order him to perform community service. However, Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Jussie to 150 days in the county jail and 30 months of felony probation.
Celebrities, including Jussie’s sister Jurnee, have criticized the ruling and called for Jussie’s release. Few question her guilt; Protests erupt over what many see as unfair punishment for her crimes. Jurnee wrote on Instagram that Jussie’s incarceration speaks to the reality that black Americans are more likely to face prison time than white Americans.
Jussie’s mother fostered her children’s love of acting and activism.
Jussie was born in Santa Rosa, California on June 21, 1982 to Janet and Joel Smollett. She grew up with three brothers and two sisters: Jake, Jocqui, Jojo, Jurnee, and Jazz.
Janet is African American and Joel was a Russian-Polish Jew who didn’t like people referring to him as white. Jussie and his siblings formed a close bond strengthened by his love of acting. The children marked special days with song and dance; poetry readings and dance competitions often occurred at her residence.
“Creating was something we were expected to do,” Jussie said. The New York Times. “And I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to do that.”
“We are a very close family, a functional family, rather than dysfunctional, unlike the Lyons,” Jussie said. ABC News. Janet moved with the children across the country while they pursued acting careers in New York and Los Angeles.
Janet supported her children when they got roles in In our name, playing the orphaned brothers who must fend for themselves. Jussie said out of magazine that Janet also prevented the boys from auditioning for some roles:
“My older sister, Jazz, called NBC and said, ‘I want to play Rudy. [Huxtable]friend. My mom said no. But she is a combination of Cookie Lyon and Fräulein Maria from The Sound of Music. While she was saying no, we were being trained.”
The children saw themselves as the Swiss Robinson family crossed with the von Trapps and the Huxtables, Jussie and Jurnee said. The New York Times. Janet nurtured the talents of her children, making them the famous artists they are today.
He also turned them into philanthropists and activists through his work with the civil rights movement. Janet met Joel at a civil rights campaign in the Bay Area. Jussie said The New York Times:
“My mom was in the movement with Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, and one of her early mentors was Julian Bond. To this day, Angela Davis is one of her dearest friends. We have spent Mother’s Day with Ángela”.
Joel wasn’t around much when Jussie was growing up, but he had a huge impact on Jussie’s life.
Jussie and his brothers grew up ‘Blewish,’ a combination of black and Jewish, the disgraced actor once said. “We had bagels with hot links, pork hot links!” Jussie said ABC News. “This is not kosher at all! Well, that’s what Blewish people do! Black and Jewish. That’s what we do.”
Jewish culture influenced the boys despite Joel’s long absences in their lives. Jussie said out of magazine:
“My father was far from perfect, but he was okay with changing, with becoming a better man, so I had my father before he left us. I didn’t necessarily have it throughout my childhood, as I would have liked.”
Joel and Janet divorced when Jussie was 15, making it more difficult for Jussie to access him. The father and son duo reconnected later in life and made up for lost time. “I had it in those last few years, and for that I’m grateful,” he said.
Joel passed away on January 7, 2015, the day Empire premiered on Fox. Jussie said out of magazine:
“He passed away that morning, so yeah, he sucked. But I had no choice but to be punished. He was so entrenched in family and in love when it all happened that if he was going to change, it wasn’t going to happen now.”
Jussie told the outlet that she wishes she could call Joel as she struggled to deal with the fame it brought. Empire. Joel, a cable splicer worker, likely would have volunteered to be Jussie’s security, Smollett said.
“He was like, ‘Man, I’m going to find a team of security guards and I’m going to follow you,’” Jussie said. “And I said, ‘He’s 5-foot-7. Relax, you’re not going to do anything.'”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn