Actress Taraji P. Henson, the Empire co-star of Jussie Smollett, expressed relief about the decision to drop all charges against the actor Tuesday in an alleged hate crime against himself.
“I’m happy that the truth has finally been set free, because I knew it all along,” Henson said of prosecutors’ decision in an interview with USA Today. “We’re all happy for him, and thank God the truth prevailed.”
Henson, who plays Cookie Lyon, the mother to Smollett’s character Jamal Lyon, told the newspaper that she never doubted her co-star’s story due to his “immaculate track record.”
However, prosecutors still insist Smollett faked a racist, anti-gay attack on himself in the hopes that the attention would advance his acting career. The Empire star still says he was assaulted by two men late at night in downtown Chicago on January 29th. The actor told police he was assaulted by two masked individuals, who hurled racist and homophobic insults at him. He said his attackers doused him with an unknown chemical substance, place a thin rope around his neck, and shouted “This is MAGA country!” before fleeing. Police said Smollett paid $3,500 to the two men, both of whom are black. – READ MORE