Fox Removes Jussie Smollett From Final 2 Episodes of 'Empire' Season 5 Following Arrest

Jennifer Maas of The Wrap wrote:

Jussie Smollett has been removed from the final two episodes of Empire Season 5, following his arrest on the charges of filing a false police report, the Fox hip-hop drama's executive producers announced in a statement Friday.

"The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us," read the statement from Empire co-creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, showrunner Brett Mahoney, and executive producers Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer.

"Jussie has been an important member of our Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply," the statement continued. "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."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/fox-removes-jussie-smollett-from-final-2-episodes-of-empire-season-5-following-arrest/ar-BBTWSFm