Executive producers of “Empire” announced on Friday that they’re scrubbing Jussie Smollett‘s character from the final two episodes this season.
“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,” the producers, Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer, said in a statement released by 20th Century Fox Television.
In all five seasons of the hit Fox drama, Smollett portrayed Jamal Lyon, the openly gay son of hip-hop mogul Lucious Lyon, who struggles with his relationship with his father.
“While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” the statement continued. “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.”
Fox previously voiced its support for Smollett, as his hate-attack allegations continued to unravel and speculation flew that he was upset over being written off the series.
“The idea that Jussie Smollett has been, or would be, written off Empire is patently ridiculous,” Fox said earlier this week.
On Thursday, Smollett was arrested on felony charges for allegedly filing a false police report, which could land him up to three years behind bars.
The 36-year-old actor has adamantly denied the charges.
But cops said he staged the Jan. 29 attack — during which he claimed his attackers shouted homophobic and racist slurs and “This is MAGA country!” — because he wasn’t happy with his salary on “Empire.”
https://pagesix.com/2019/02/22/empir...s-this-season/
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Originally Posted by nathanbforrest45
