“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report after claiming he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in January. Although he denied staging the assault, many stars spoke out about the incident.
Queen Latifah is among those celebrities who are standing by Smollett.
The 48-year-old rapper and actress has insisted she will continue to support him until someone can provide “definitive proof” the incident was a hoax.
Speaking to Zainab Salbi on Yahoo News’ ‘Through Her Eyes,” she said: “The guy I’ve seen has always been someone who cares about people, who cares about others, and who’s very kind and who’s always been cool and sweet.
“And that’s just the guy I know. So until I can see some definitive proof — which I haven’t seen yet — then, you know, I gotta go with him until I see otherwise.”
The “STAR” actress admitted she doesn’t “know what to make” of the scandal, but she hopes everything works out eventually.
She added: “I don’t even know what to make of it.
“All I know is that I hope everything works out in the end and everybody basically comes out unscathed.”
Following Smollett’s arrest, it was revealed his character, Jamal Lyon, would be written out of the final two episodes of season five of “Empire” to prevent further “disruption” to filming.
Producers including Lee Daniels and Danny Strong said in a statement last month: “The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. 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.”
