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Things are not looking so good for Empire actor Jussie Smollett. News recently broke that Smollett was indicted for falsifying a police report. Though he placed bond, he may have jeopardized his television career.
It is being alleged that the actor/singer staged his own attacked. Hiring trained actors to attack him. Reportedly, Smollett orchestrated the whole situation to look like a homophobic/racist attack.
Although it was reported that Smollett’s character Jamal Lyon wasn’t going to be canceled from the show initially, it looks like things turned around after the arrest. The Empire, executive producers released a statement letting fans know his character will not appear on the final two episodes of the show.
The statement reads, “the events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our EMPIRE family for the past five years and we care about him deeply..”
Jussie, has yet to publicly speak out regarding these allegations.
See the full statement below.
Please find a new statement from “Empire” Executive Producers Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer:
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us…”
— 20th Century Fox TV (@20centuryfoxTV) February 22, 2019
“… Jussie has been an important member of our EMPIRE family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out…”
— 20th Century Fox TV (@20centuryfoxTV) February 22, 2019
“… We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.” -Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney…
— 20th Century Fox TV (@20centuryfoxTV) February 22, 2019
… Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer, executive producers of EMPIRE.
— 20th Century Fox TV (@20centuryfoxTV) February 22, 2019