After Jussie Smollett accused two men of attacking him back in 2019, popular singer Ariana Grande voiced her support for the “Empire” actor, saying that what happened to him made her “really f****** sick.”
On Thursday, a jury convicted Smollett of five counts of disorderly conduct related to lying to Chicago police and staging a hate crime.
Grande, who elicited backlash after her 2018 song “God is a woman,” said in response to Smollett’s original hate crime claim that she was shocked that this kind of thing was still happening in America.
She tweeted, “what happened to jussie makes me really f****** sick to my stomach. i can’t believe s*** like this is really still happening everyday. what kind of world? sending all of the healing energy/love i possibly can and hoping for change. what can we do ? tell me & i’m there.”
Based on the conviction, Smollet could face up to three years in prison, though several legal analysts believe that is not likely. His lawyer plans on appealing the ruling.
“We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal,” Smollett’s lawyer said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the route we wanted but sometimes that’s the route you have to take to win, especially a case where we remain 100 percent confident in our client’s innocence.”
NBC Chicago reported on the charges against the actor:
Count 1 accuses him of telling responding Chicago Police Officer Muhammed Baig at around 2:45 a.m., some 45 minutes after the purported attack, that he was the victim of a hate crime. He said two attackers put a rope around his neck. Count 2 refers to Smollett telling the same officer he was a victim of a battery, describing attackers beating and pouring bleach on him.
Counts 3 and 4 are when Smollett made the same claims but to a different officer, Kimberly Murray, later that morning, at just before 6 a.m.
Count 5 accuses Smollett of again telling Murray at around 7:15 p.m. that he was the victim of a battery. Count 6 refers to Smollett reporting on Feb. 14, 2019, to detective Robert Graves that he’d been a victim of an aggravated battery.
Grande, who reportedly once had a tattoo in Japanese that translated to barbecue grill, has been supportive of many progressive causes, including abortion. Planned Parenthood tagged the artist as someone that “supports abortion access” in a post congratulating her for her Grammy nomination.
As The Daily Wire reported, Grande gave proceeds from a 2019 concert in Atlanta to Planned Parenthood over a heartbeat bill Georgia had passed.
The Daily Wire reported:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grande’s donation of $250,000 will specifically go to the Georgia Planned Parenthood in order to fight the current fetal heartbeat bill, which bans abortion the moment doctors detect an unborn child’s heartbeat in the womb.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen said Grande’s “inspiring support” will enable the abortion conglomerate to fight back against the pro-life initiatives.