Update of Latest Scandals:
Jussie Smollett has been removed from the final episodes of season 5 of the Fox series Empire after his arrest Thursday morning.
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us” said series executives Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer in a statement released Friday.
“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. 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.”
Yesterday
Chicago Police officials asserted Thursday that actor Jussie Smollett set up a hate crime hoax on January 29, because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on the Fox series Empire.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson presided over a press conference on Thursday morning after Smollett turned himself in to police to face a charge of filing false police report.
Johnson told reporters he was angered by what he described as Smollett’s “smear” of the city where “Empire” is filmed by claiming he was the victim of a vicious hate crime spurred by racism and homophobia.
Johnson called Smollett’s actions “shameful” and accused him of hurting the entire city with a stunt planned for his own self-interest. He also criticized the actor for forcing the city to spend time and resources on an investigation when Smollett knew there was no crime. Smollett is to be formally charged and face a bond hearing Thursday at 1:30 p.m. CT.
