20th Century Fox Releases Statement on Smollett’s Future on Empire: ‘Considering Our Options’

20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment, the studios that produce the television show Empire, issued a statement Thursday morning after an actor on the show, Jussie Smollett, was arrested for staging a hate crime against himself for media attention. The studio is “considering [its] options” regarding what to do with Smollett after police confirmed evidence of a hoax.

“We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options,” it reads.

This statement was released 24 hours after 20th Century Fox released a previous statement asserting that Smollett would not be booted from Empire.

“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,” that statement read.

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