Lee Daniels on "The Pain" and "Anger" by Jussie Smollett Fallout – Variety



[ad_1]

In a video posted to his Instagram account Wednesday afternoon, Empire designer Lee Daniels let everyone know his opinion of the Jussie Smollett incident.

"These last two weeks have been a real roller coaster," Daniels said in the video. "My group and I have experienced pain, anger, sadness and frustration and really do not know how to deal with it."

Daniels was keen to point out that the episode of "Empire" aired tonight had been filmed "before the incident".

"That's not what the show was designed for, it's a show that was created to bring America closer, to talk about the atrocities that are happening on the street right now," Daniels concludes in the video.

Smollett was removed from the last episodes of season 5 of the "Empire" series of the Fox series, after his arrest for filing a false police report and for disorderly conduct. Fox had initially supported the actor.

"Jussie has been an important member of our 'Empire' family for five years and we love her immensely. While these allegations are very troubling, we place our trust in the justice system as the process unfolds. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the actors and team members working on our series. To avoid further disruption on the set, we decided to remove the role of "Jamal" from the last two episodes of the season, "Daniels said in a joint statement with other leaders of the series regarding Smollett's dismissal.

The actor and musician claimed to have been assaulted in the early morning of January 29 in Chicago, claiming that two men had thrown him racist and homophobic slurs, had him hit, had poured him out bleach and had placed a rope around him. neck. Smollett also said the two men had used the phrase "MAGA country" during the assault, a reference to President Donald Trump and his slogan "Make America Great Again".

However, investigators now believe that Smollett paid two acquaintances – brothers Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo – to help him organize the attack. The police had previously arrested the brothers, but they were subsequently released without charge. They are now cooperating with the investigation.

[ad_2]

Source link