Fox continued their support of embattled “Empire” star Jussie Smollett in a new statement issued Wednesday.
“Jussie Smollett continues to be a consummate professional on set and as we have previously stated, he is not being written out of the show,” 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment said.
The new statement comes after reports surfaced Tuesday that Smollet had his role cut back in the episode of the Fox series that is currently being filmed.
Smollet faces claims that he staged an assault on himself in Chicago late last month in what was described as a suspected hate crime. The actor and musician stated that two men hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, poured bleach on him, and put a rope around his neck. It was also reported the two men used the phrase “MAGA country” during the attack, a reference to President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Since then, the Chicago police have begun investigating whether or not Smollett paid brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo to stage the attack. Police previously arrested the brothers but they were later released without being charged.
Smollett and his representatives have repeatedly denied that he staged the attack.
As Variety reported on Tuesday, Smollett would face charges of falsifying a police report, a Class 4 felony in Illinois, should his story prove to be false.