Jussie Smollett is putting smiles on the faces of many kids in Flint, Michigan.
Sources close to Jussie tell TMZ, “the actor recently paid a surprise visit to Flint, Michigan with youth and environmental activist, Mari Copeny AKA Little Miss Flint, and together they helped surprise a school with new backpacks and toys. Jussie took his good deeds one step further … we’re told he donated $10,000 to the Flint KIDS program.”
It’s not the first time Smollett has been generous to charity. Last year, he donated $125,000 to various charities ahead of the holidays, including Flint KIDS and the Black AIDS Institute.
Smollett is allegedly planning to make a return to the hit show, “Empire.” According to an interview with TVLine, Showrunner Brett Mahoney says that discussions are currently underway, indicating the controversial former cast member’s potential return.
“It would be weird in my mind to end this family show and this family drama of which he was such a significant part of without seeing him,” Mahoney told the outlet. “It’s fair to say it’s being discussed, but there’s no plan as of yet to bring him back. There’s been no decision made.”
Smollett, who played Jamal Lyon, was written out of the final episodes of the show’s fifth season, following his legal scandal. When “Empire” was renewed for its sixth and final season last May, the network extended Smollett’s contract but said there were “no plans” to bring him back onto the show.
The actor was charged back in February with filing a false police report, when he claimed that he was attacked outside his Chicago apartment by two men who had allegedly called him racist and homophobic slurs. Smollett is now suing the City of Chicago for malicious prosecution. He claims that officials created a narrative that he was the mastermind of a hoax attack, which has costed him in his career. The City of Chicago is suing Smollett to repay costs for the investigation.