Jussie Smollett’s Arrest Caused Terrence Howard To Melt Down On ‘Empire’ Set, Per ‘TMZ’
Jussie Smollett’s arrest hasn’t just been stressful for him, but it’s also allegedly taking a toll on his Empire co-stars, like Terrence Howard.
According to TMZ, when Smollett turned himself in and was arrested for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself last week, Howard, who plays his onscreen father, had a meltdown on the set of the Fox series.
Sources tell the outlet that Howard was so upset that he refused to come out of his trailer for a majority of the day, which sent the set into disarray. In addition, Terrence reportedly never believed Jussie’s story and allegedly grilled him when holes in his account of the attack began to show.
The source went on to state that things got heated between Howard and Smollett after brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo were detained by police for allegedly helping Jussie stage the attack. Terrence reportedly confronted Jussie and screamed at him to come clean about the incident.
In addition, Howard was reportedly not in attendance on Thursday when Smollett was released from police custody on bail and then headed to the Empire set to address the cast and crew.
Meanwhile, other members of the cast and crew were reportedly in agreement with Terrence and wanted Jussie removed from the set for the final episodes as things were too disruptive.
However, following the alleged meltdown on set, Terrence Howard took to his Instagram account on Saturday to share a sweet video of Jussie Smollett playing with his son. The message was one of support and the caption read, “All your lil homies got you…We love the hell outta you.”
Currently, Smollett will not return to set to film the final episodes of the season for Empire, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever come back to the show. It seems that Fox is waiting to see how the situation plays out before making any big decisions or announcements. However, The Inquisitr reports that there have already been talks of recasting Jussie’s character, Jamal Lyon.
“While these allegations are very disturbing. We are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” the network said in a statement.
Through all of the controversy, Jussie has maintained his innocence.
“Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing,” a statement from Jussie’s legal team read, following his arrest.
Jussie Smollett has yet to speak out about his Empire co-stars or his future with the show.
