Earlier this year, actor Jussie Smollett took the nation by storm after claiming that he was the victim of a hate crime carried out by vicious “MAGA Country” supporters. Of course, it didn’t take long for his story to completely fall apart and face exposure for the hoax that it was.
This subsequently led to tons of bad press and a mountain of legal issues for Smollett. Now, news has broken that Smollett’s character, Jamal Lyon, will not be returning to Empire, despite the show being renewed for a sixth season, reports The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Booted from Empire
News that Smollett will not return to Empire came via an official statement from 20th Century Fox TV. The statement reads as follows:
“By mutual agreement, the studio has negotiated an extension to Jussie Smollett’s option for season six, but at this time there are no plans for the character of Jamal to return to Empire.”
Although Smollett’s character is clearly out of Empire, for now, the statement does appear to leave room for his possible return in the future.
News that Smollett will not be in the sixth season of Empire comes after various cast members put together a joint statement to the show’s producers last week. In the statement, cast members vouched for Smollett’s character and requested that he be allowed to return to the show:
“We understand the past months have been difficult to process—sometimes the headlines brought more confusion than clarity, yet we now have a conclusion to this ordeal. Throughout Empire’s five seasons, working with Jussie and watching how he has conducted himself throughout this traumatic event, we have come to know not just the character Jussie portrays, but also truly come to know Jussie’s personal character.”
The fact of the matter is that Smollett revealed plenty about his “personal character” when he chose to stage a hate crime. What if someone had actually been arrested for an incident which we now know never happened? Would Smollett have come forward and told the truth in order to save an innocent person from facing legal issues? Not likely.
At the end of the day, each person must take responsibility for his or her own actions. What Smollett did was dangerous and could have had all kinds of ugly consequences.
What do you think about this latest development? Do you believe Smollett will ever return to Empire in future seasons? Let us know your takeaways in the comments section down below!
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