'Empire' co-creator Lee Daniels ‘beyond embarrassed’ by the Jussie Smollett scandal

Fox News ^ | 11 June 2019 | Mariah Haas

[Steely Tom]

Daniels opened up to Vulture -- in a new interview published Tuesday -- after he was asked about how Smollett alleged he'd been the victim of a hate crime, a claim Chicago cops later refuted, accusing the "Empire" actor of staging the entire episode to get a pay raise and to drum up publicity for his career. Smollett has maintained his innocence, strongly denying the accusations.

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"I’m beyond embarrassed," the 59-year-old director and producer, who initially publicly supported Smollett, told the outlet. "I think that when it happened, I had a flash of me running from bullies. I had a flash of my whole life, of my childhood, my youth, getting beaten."

[Steely Tom]

A glimpse into the highly stressed life of the SJW-entertainment-media complex.

Makes D-Day and the Bataan Death March look like Swan Lake.

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[DoughtyOne]

I haven’t followed any moves to reinstate Smollette in the cast, but it’s my impression the studio handled the case pretty well after the blowout.

Smollette was let go. It cost him as it should.

It seemed a lot of folks on the Left were as angry with him as people on the Right were, surprisingly.

Does anyone see it differently?

[Mount Athos]

He shouldn’t be embarrassed at all, none of it was his fault

[Bommer]

Yeah it was. Gay and black = never ever guilty!

[bigbob]

I think Smollette’s career is done. He poisoned his own well.

[GOPJ]

He was trying to set us up - to frame us - the eviscerate Trump supporters. That's a hate crime.

Even some liberals are able to see how bad that makes them look. They want sooooooo bad to be victims that they fake it. It's sick - and no one is asking why the 'paid thugs' were carrying a bottle of bleach. I know what crime is committed that's covered up with bleach... Smollett must hate Trump and Trump supporters more than anyone can understand who's not insane.

[Vince Ferrer]

The studio reacted as well as they could have. They quickly wrote him out of their current season. Then he was “exonerated”, and they put him back in the show. This was the right thing to do since he was not indighted. Then after the police exploded, and investigations started, they wrote him out of the show again. Now I think it is cancelled.

[Right Wing Assault]

I think Smollette’s career is done. He poisoned his own well.

He's an idiot. Smallhead forgot to use the leftist excuse: "It was just a joke that went bad."

[mewzilla]

Does anyone see it differently?

I'd want to know what the cast, production company, and the network knew and when they knew it before deciding whether any/all handled it well.

Any/all could have been complicit in a cover-up.

[Albion Wilde]

"It was just a joke that went bad."

Yeah, it was "botched."