Terrence Howard spoke out in support of his “Empire” co-star Jussie Smollett Saturday night, posting a video on Instagram of the actor playing with a baby. It was captioned, “All your lil homies got you… We love the hell outta you.”
A commenter disagreed with Howard’s opinion of his TV son and called Smollet a “lying felon.” Howard responded, “Sorry you feel that way but that’s the only Jussie I know.”
Howard went on: “The Jussie I know could never even conceive of something so unconscious and ugly. His innocence or judgment is not for any of us to decide. Stay in your lane and my lane is empathy and love and compassion for someone I’ve called my son for five years. It’s God’s job to judge and it’s ours to love and hope, especially for those that we claim to have loved. There’s nothing more harmful than a fake friend!”
Smollett turned himself into authorities on Thursday after being slapped with a felony charge of filing a false police report. After spending a few hours in custody, he posted $100,000 bond. In a press conference, Chicago police superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said the “Empire” star orchestrated a hate crime against himself because he was unhappy about his salary on the show.
The actor, however, has maintained his innocence, with his team releasing a statement saying Smollett “feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.”
On Friday, the show announced that they would remove Smollett’s character from the remaining two episodes of Season 5.
Check out Howard’s Instagram post below.
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