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Actress Taraji P. Henson compared Jussie Smollett’s fake hate crime sentence to the lynching of Emmett Till in a celebrity-endorsed plea for early release. Henson, who co-starred with Smollett on the Fox show “Empire,” took to Instagram in a display of hashtag activism to make her case. Rather than argue on the merits of innocence or guilt, Henson claims Smollett is facing excessive punishment. “I am not here to debate you on his innocence,” Henson wrote, “but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime.” 0:10 / 50:16 1 seconds... Henson then proceeded to compare the sentence...

The 2020 American Music Awards delivered a big decline in rating and total viewership from last year, falling to record lows in both measurements. Last night’s awards show, which was hosted by “Empire” star Taraji P. Henson and saw Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Dan + Shay emerge as the big winners, averaged a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and around 3.8 million total viewers. That represents a 50% rating decline and a 43% loss in total viewership. For comparison, last years AMAs were down only 4% on the year prior in the ratings column, and in fact gained around...

Some of Smollett's cast mates are 'f*****g furious' and want him to quit or be fired They say he does not deserve a place on the show after allegedly lying to the world Others are standing by him and believe his claim that he is innocent Gabby Sidibe, one of Smollett's closest friends, deleted her supportive Instagram post on Thursday night A day earlier, she had written: 'I know him, I believe him, I stand with him' Prosecutors say they have a mountain of evidence which proves it was a hoax Smollett's legal team has condemned their handling of the...

One day after Jussie Smollett was arrested on multiple felony charges for the alleged racist and homophobic attack of last month, the producers of Empire have cut the actor from the rest of the show’s fifth season “The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us,” said EPs Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer this morning. “Jussie has been an important member of our Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply,” the producers added. “While these allegations are very...