Thursday, March 28, 2024

TNT Yanks Jussie Smollett’s ‘Drop the Mic’ Episode Amid Hate Crime Scandal

jussie smollett - mugshot

*”Empire” star Jussie Smollett was set to appear in an episode of TNT’s hip-hop battle show “Drop the Mic” but the network decided to yank it following his arrest for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself.

The Feb 6 episode would’ve featured actress Danielle Brooks facing off against Smollett while “American Idol” star Clay Aiken took on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Sharknado” star Ian Ziering, per chicagotribune.com.

“We had an episode of ‘Drop The Mic’ this season with Jussie that you’ll now (correctly) never see, but sadly it will shelve Clay Aiken, WHO WAS A VERY GOOD RAPPER (at least for now),” executive producer Jensen Karp wrote on Twitter.

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jussie smollett

The Smollett episode of “Drop the Mic” is actually available to watch via YouTube for a fee.

“We are pulling the episode in the interest of not being exploitative of an incredibly sensitive situation,” a TNT spokesperson said. “We are holding on airing his episode for now and we are replacing it with the Raven Simon vs Ron Funches and Joey McIntyre vs Joey Fatoneepisode.”

TNT’s decision comes after Fox announced that Jussie’s character had been written out of “Empire’s” final few episodes of the season. The actor’s future on the hit music drama series is also in doubt. 20th Century Fox TV and Fox Entertainment previously said in a statement that “we understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options.”

Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report and disorderly conduct after he claimed to be the victim of an assault that went down in the early morning hours of Jan. 29 in Chicago, involving two men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, beat him up, poured bleach on him, and placed a rope around his neck. But Chicago Police officials believe Jussie orchestrated the hate crime because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on “Empire.”

 

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