While Jussie Smollett is facing a legal battle against the city of Chicago, the actor is working to recover, both in a mental health sense and in repairing his reputation.
However, after making countless national headlines stemming from an incident back in January where he alleged he was the victim of a hate crime and later accused of falsifying the report, his return to work has been far from an easy transition.
According to the Daily Mail, Smollett has been cut from the cast of the forthcoming Broadway reboot of the Tony-winning play Take Me Out.
The “Empire” actor previously was slated to play the main character Darren Lemming, a mixed-race baseball player who comes out as gay at the peak of his career. In the play, Lemming suffers an attack by a teammate who hurls racial and homophobic slurs. The premise draws a similar parallel to what Smollett claims he experienced personally at the top of this year.
According to reports, Smollett read for the role alongside his intended co-star Zachary Quinto. The reading reportedly took place the day before Smollett reported the alleged hate crime to authorities in Chicago.
After charges against Smollett were dropped, the city of Chicago decided to move forward with a lawsuit. While the city is seeking reimbursement for investigative costs, Smollett continues to maintain his innocence, denying all claims that he staged the altercation.
In related news, a series of text messages allegedly sent from Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx have been made public through a Freedom of Information Act filing made by CBS. The texts show that the Cook County State Attorney, who previously recused herself from the case, believed that Smollett was being charged too harshly.
In the texts, Foxx refers to Smollet as a “washed up celebs who lied to cops,” going on to compare the actor’s case with that of R. Kelly’s.
“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” the texts read.
Prosecutors decided to drop the charges against Smollett last month after he agreed to perform community service and forfeit his bail.