It’s simply amazing that “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett got away with just a slap on the wrist when most people would do serious prison time for sixteen felonies.
But instead, Kim Foxx of the Cook County State Attorney’s Office perplexingly decided to drop all of his charges seemingly out of the blue and for no reason whatsoever. But the good news is that Smollett will probably never recover from this scandal in a career sense.
And this industry just turned their back on him as well.
Jussie Smollett became infamous in late January 2019 when he allegedly staged an attack claiming that President Trump “MAGA” supporters did it in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
But things took a drastic turn when the Chicago Police Department discovered evidence that he paid two Nigerian bros who worked on “Empire” at some point with a $3,500 check to beat him up.
Smollett did it for two reasons; to demonize Trump supporters as violent, racist and homophobic, and also the actor wanted a raise on “Empire” because he felt he was underpaid.
It wasn’t long after that State Attorney Kim Foxx inexplicably dropped all of his charges where all he had to complete was some community service and fork over his $10,000 bond money.
But Smollett’s career may never recover because he’s getting dropped right and left.
A new report from the Daily Mail revealed Smollett was dropped from a Broadway show called “Take Me Out” that he planned to co-star in.
Coincidentally enough, Smollett delivered his first table reading – he had already been cast at this point – just 12-hours before the alleged staged attack.
A Broadway insider told Daily Mail, “Everything was set to go and the producers were planning to announce that Jussie and Zachary Quinto were starring in the play last month. Everyone was so supportive after the attack and then suddenly, everything shifted.”
It certainly shifted. How could you even possibly move forward with the divisive actor?
An unnamed source also told the Daily Mail, “Here is a kid who is on a hit television show, has made a name for himself, and gets the chance of a lifetime. He would have come off the sixth season of Empire and kicked off the next leg of his career with a role on Broadway. And not just that, the lead role in one of the best plays of the century in his Broadway debut. Why on earth would someone throw that all away?”
It is a bit of an anomaly? Did he really think he was worth more as an actor? Was he desperate to be famous and felt he wasn’t getting his “due” comeuppance?
Or did he want to get empathy fame by blaming liberal-hated Trump supporters?
It did work for a while.
Smollett was also fired from “Empire” following the charges. Executive Producers’ Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer’s statement read, “The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. 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.”
Smollett’s career will probably never recover because the simple fact is Hollywood celebrities and filmmakers would commit career suicide by working with him ever again.