Jussie Smollett Makes TV History In What May Be His Last ‘Empire’ Appearance
In an episode for the history books, Jussie Smollett made what could be his final appearance on Empire. The embattled actor’s character Jamal wed another black man for the first gay, black wedding in TV history, according to The Blast.
Kai, played by Toby Onwumere, and Jamal were wed on Wednesday evening in a historic moment.
Smollett told The Cheat Sheet that he had been fighting to get the wedding on air because he felt like it was important for people to see a healthy relationship between two black men.
“It’s something that I’ve been pushing for for the last four seasons,” he said. “I knew that we had to go through all of the things that we went through with the character in order to get to the place that we are now.”
“Jamal had a little h** spell you know what I’m saying?” he joked. “I like to call it a serial monogamous spell. But he’s found a love that’s real with no ulterior motives or anything like that and I think that is what I want to portray. That’s what I want to see, and that’s what I want other people to see.”
Jurnee Smollett supported the monumental occasion by retweeting a message from Gabby Sidibe.
Tonight, #Empire will give life to a monumental love story by marrying 2 black, gay men for the first time in television history. Please join us in celebration until it’s no longer a phenomenon to see 2 people of the same sex and race love each other proudly, on prime time TV.
— Gabby Sidibe (@GabbySidibe) April 24, 2019
The couple heads off to their honeymoon on the show and Smollett’s fate now hangs in the balance. He was originally written out of the show for the last two episodes of this season after he was charged with filing a false police report.
Smollett claimed he was attacked by two white men shouting racist slurs who placed a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him. Later, Chicago police said that the attack was staged and charged Smollett. The charges were eventually dropped by prosecutors, but Chicago police and city Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the dropping of the charges a mistake. Now, the city is suing the actor to recoup the costs of the investigation.
Smollett’s woes don’t end there. As The Inquisitr previously reported, the Osundairo brothers, who were accused of staging the attack with Smollett, are now suing the actor’s lawyers for defamation. In their lawsuit, they claim that Smollett orchestrated the attack and hired them to play the role of attackers in order to gain attention. They now say that his lawyers have repeatedly harmed their reputations and that they can no longer get jobs in the city.
All this comes as the cast of Empire wrote an open letter to the show’s executives asking them to let Smollett return to the show for the next season.
"We understand that this show is a business. And that business matters to us as well. We are confident our fans will welcome our Jamal back into the #Empire family as enthusiastically as we will" https://t.co/CnBp9ypkyh
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) April 24, 2019
