When Jussie Smollett said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack on January 29, Empire co-creator and executive producer Lee Daniels made an impassioned statement in a since-deleted vi…
“I’m beyond embarrassed,” he said. “I think that when it happened, I had a flash of me running from bullies. I had a flash of my whole life, of my childhood, my youth, getting beaten.”
In the interview published online Tuesday, the Oscar-nominated director said Smollett is like a son, and he still has “some doubt” that the actor would stage an attack.“Of course, there’s some doubt,” Daniels stated. “I’m telling you that because I love him so much.
The day of the attack, Smollett told police he was walking down a Chicago street in the dark, when two unknown offenders approached him and began yelling racial and homophobic slurs. The actor said the suspects beat him, wrapped a rope around his neck and said “this is MAGA country.”reminded Daniels that Chicago police and the city’s local media alleged Smollett hired to friends to attack him, in hopes of getting a salary increase on“We weren’t there. I can’t judge him,” Daniels responded.
Cook County prosecutors charged Smollett with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report. The actor maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty. In a surprise move on March 26, the state’s attorney’s office dropped the charges. The city is now suing him in civil court to recover more than $130,000 it claims to have spent on police overtime hours investigating the case., Daniels said there was no time.Following the attack, Smollett was
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