Is Kim Kardashian Replacing Cookie On ‘Empire’? Viral Story Claims Taraji P. Henson Fired In Favor Of Kim

Is Kim Kardashian really replacing Taraji P. Henson as Cookie on Empire?

That was the word going around the internet this week after one entertainment website posted a story about a potentially massive shake-up on the hit Fox musical drama. The report from the site Witty Feed claimed that producers decided to give Kim Kardashian her big acting break and were moving out one of the show’s biggest names.

“It will come as a surprise to most of the Fox’s hit drama ’empire’ that they have decided to replace the character ‘Cookie’ which is played by Emmy award-nominated, Taraji P. Henson. The leading lady for the show which is in the talks for the role is none other than reality TV star Kim Kardashian.”

But the report was just a hoax, Snopes pointed out. The report was actually based on a previous story that hit the internet in July of 2015 from another site, Read Talk Share, that was advertised as fiction. The site noted that all of its stories are “100% satire,” in the vein of The Onion.

Despite the somewhat obvious hoax (including a misspelling of Henson’s name), the story was still able to find legs on the internet, with many people sharing the news on social media and expressing shock that Empire producers would fire Taraji P. Henson and replace her with Kim Kardashian.

Umm wtf know it gots to be a lie https://t.co/zVFmSQC4JU

— Nubian Medusa ??? (@MrsDarkling92) May 30, 2016

It would seem odd for Empire to fire the woman who has become their brightest star. Earlier this year, Henson notched the first-ever Golden Globe win for Empire when she took home the best actress award.

After the win, showrunner Ilene Chaiken told Variety that Henson is one of the most important parts of the show’s success.

“It’s so great to have Taraji out there again just carrying the flag for Empire, which she does all over the world.”

Describing what the award recognition means for the show, Chaiken said, “For us, it just reinforces and galvanizes us to do better and to keep pushing ourselves and to keep being fresh and to keep challenging ourselves. We’re doing something that feels new and fresh and worth taking taking notice. That’s what it does for us. It fuels us.”

There were even rumors that Henson’s Cookie character is so popular that producers were going to create a spin-off show about her younger years. But Henson told Variety that instead, “I think they’re going to try to accomplish that in flashbacks on our show. So stay tuned.”

Kim Kardashian is no stranger to unsubstantiated rumors. As the founder of the modern reality television movement, she has made a career out of drawing attention to herself, and often that brings shadowy reports based on little to nothing. She and Kanye West have faced near-constant stories that they are headed to divorce, with those rumors dating all the way back to around the time of their wedding. The stories have a few things in common — all are based on unnamed sources, and so far they have all turned out to be false.

There have also been continual reports that she is pregnant — ones that were correct twice now. But the latest rumor that Kim Kardashian is taking over the role of Cookie on Empire is one of the more obvious hoaxes, as it can be traced directly back to its made-up source.

Anyone who may have been fooled by the story that Kim Kardashian was replacing Taraji P. Henson on Empire could have checked out the Fox website to sort out the rumor. The show is still using Henderson as a major part of promotional material for the upcoming season, Snopes noted.

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]