In light of recent happenings, culminating to Jussie Smollett’s arrest, his character “Jamal” has been dropped from the last two episodes of the TV show Empire’s current season.
The decision to remove his role was confirmed in a statement co-released by the executive producers of the show; Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Gazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer.
The executive producers claimed that the decision was made to prevent further disturbances on set.
A section of the statement read, “While these allegations are very disturbing, we’re 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.”
Jussie Smollett handed himself to the police after it was alleged that he lied about being attacked and almost killed by two homophobic and racially discriminatory people.
The police claim the actor set up the attack because he is not satisfied with his pay for the TV show.
Empire TV show is currently airing its fifth season.
— Empire (@EmpireTVSeries) February 22, 2019
