While many cried foul over Felicity Huffman’s treatment in court on Friday and her two-week prison sentence, one voice wants people to feel the opposite way.
John Legend followed his small spat with President Donald Trump by pointing out that we shouldn’t want people like Huffman to get longer, more severe punishments. Instead, we should want others to get the same treatment she is getting.
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“I get why everyone gets mad when rich person X gets a short sentence and poor person of color Y gets a long one,” [Spoiler]Type Spoiler text here[/Spoiler]. “The answer isn’t for X to get more; it’s for both of them to get less (or even none!!!). We should level down not up.”
Felicity was sentenced to 14 days in prison on Friday and was slapped with a $30,000 fine for good measure. While this is more punishment than many expected, TMZ points out that prosecutors spent millions on the case and investigation into the college admissions scandal before shifting gears to say any punishment sends the right message.
Still, Legend is in the minority when it comes to outrage over the sentencing. Many used her sentence as a prime example for why the criminal justice system is broke. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke out shortly after he news broke on social media.
“We have a criminal justice system which is racist, broken, and must be fundamentally reformed,” Sanders wrote on social media.
Huffman’s sentencing was still an emotional moment in the scandal despite the controversy around her sentence. Prosecutors made their case, the judge dropped some sobering wisdom and Huffman was overwhelmed with tears.
“I am deeply ashamed of what I have done,” Huffman told the judge according to CNN. “At the end of the day I had a choice to make. I could have said ‘no.’”
The sentencing was followed with anger and comparisons to similar cases where the accused wasn’t famous.
“Felicity Huffman was sentenced to two weeks in jail for buying her daughters way into college. A black woman who voted illegally without knowing it got five years,” one person wrote on Twitter after the sentencing. “The US criminal justice system is messed up and racist.”
Thinking like this is what sparked Legend’s response, hoping to focus people on a positive path. Whether that works or not remains to be seen.