Just about a week after Jussie Smollett was found guilty of disorderly conduct, Tina Knowles is wondering about what sort of sentence he’ll get — specifically, how it will compare to the case of Amy Cooper, a White woman who was arrested for calling the police on a Black bird watcher last year.
On Tuesday (Dec. 14), Knowles, who is the mother of Beyoncé and Solange, jumped onto Instagram to share a screenshot of a CNN op-ed that compared the cases of Smollett and Cooper. Smollett, who was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct last week, was accused of staging a fake assault so that it appeared he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019. Cooper was arrested after being accused of calling the police to falsely accuse a Black bird watcher of threatening to attack her in May 2020. In a caption for her IG post, Knowles compared the two cases.
“The article goes on to say both were wrong but Jussie faces possible prison time and Amy Cooper the woman who called the police and lied about the Black man that was bird watching in Central Park was trying to attack her,” Knowles wrote in the caption. “Leading to the potential arrest of the man where in the history of Black men in Custody could have led to his death. Amy Cooper got off with public service.”
Knowles continued: “Will he get the same compassion as Amy Cooper? I am not condoning what Mr Smollet was found guilty of . I am just asking will he get the same compassion and understanding of knowingly lying to police . Kyle Rittenhouse walked free after killing two people because the jury had compassion?”
Smollett faces up to three years in prison for the disorderly conduct charges. Meanwhile, Cooper’s case was dropped after she completed a racial bias classes. While Smollett does face prison time, his lawyer plans to appeal the verdict.