According to TMZ, Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer all signed off on the order to cut Jussie Smollett for the remainder of the season in the wake of his arrest for allegedly grand scheming his racist attack.
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us,” FOX said in a statement to TMZ. “Jussie has been an important member of our EMPIRE family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out.
“We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”