According to Fox 2 Detroit, the producers from "Empire" have come to a hard decision on Friday. They've cut Jussie Smollett's character from the final two episodes of this season. They want to avoid further disruption on set. He was late on Thursday and very emotional which delayed taping. Here is a statement that Empire executive producers Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer released.
"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,"