Actor Jussie Smollett of Empire on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) was arrested by Chicago police saying that the actor staged and paid for his racist attack because he was "dissatisfied with his salary" and wanted to boost his career and the money he could get from FOX and the studio 20th Century Fox Television.
Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson in a press conference said Jussie Smollett paid two Nigerian brothers, Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, $3 500 to stage an attack on him in late-January to take "advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career".
"I'm left hanging my head and asking why. Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?" said Eddie Johnson who is black.
Jussie Smollett (36) was arrested on Thursday morning and was released on bail of $10 000 after which he went to the Empire set. Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke called the charges "utterly outrageous" and "despicable".
Eddie Johnson who called Jussie Smollett's action a "shameful publicity stunt" says police believe that "the scratching and bruising that you saw on his face were most likely self-inflicted" and that police believe Jussie Smollett "staged the attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary".
FOX and 20th Century TV, the studio producing Empire, issued a statement after his arrest no longer fully supporting Jussie Smollett as it did earlier, suspending Jussie Smollett and immediately cutting him from the remainder of the episodes of the current 5th season of the show.
On Thursday FOX and 20th Century TV still called Jussie Smollett a "consummate professional" and said the actor won't be written out of Empire in a statement, but has now suspended him and dumped him from appearing in any further episodes, saying in a new statement: "We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options".
Jussie Smollett already makes more than $100 000 per Empire episode.
"The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us," said Empire 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."
Jussie Smollett last month told police detectives that he was attacked near the entrance of a Loews hotel in Chicago and that the two men yelled, "Empire fa***t" and "Empire n***er," while hitting him and that one shouted "This is MAGA country", a reference to American president Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
Eddie Johnson said Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo told police that Jussie Smollett who is black and gay "first attempted to gain attention by sending a false letter that relied on racial, homophobic and political language. When that didn't work, Jussie Smollett paid $3 500 to stage this attack".
The brothers' motive for helping stage the fake attack was money.
A week before the attack, a letter was sent to the Chicago set of Empire. It contained white powder which turned out to be aspirin, and a drawing of a "stick figure hanging from a tree".
The police say Jussie Smollett told the brothers what to say while attacking him with the staged attack that was supposed to have happened on 28 January but was postponed until 2:00 on 29 January because his flight was delayed.
Jussie Smollett took the brothers to the place where he wanted the staged attack to occur on 27 January and pointed out a surveillance camera on the corner he thought would record the attack. The plan was changed so bleach would be used during the incident instead of petrol.
Chicago police called on Jussie Smollett "to apologise to this city that he smeared" over his "hoax" that "received national attention for weeks" and may deter future hate crime victims from coming forward for fear that their allegations may be met with scepticism.
Jussie Smollett's lawyers in a statement said "Like any other citizen, Jussie Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one, where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked".
"Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."
