Actor Terrence Howard, star of the now-canceled television show “Empire,” announced he will soon quit acting in order to bring “truth to the world.”
Speaking with Cheslie Kryst of Extra, Howard said that the cancelation of “Empire” has lead him to quit the acting business altogether.
Extra’s Special Correspondent Miss USA Cheslie Kryst was on the set of “Empire” with the show’s star Terrence Howard as he shot the final season of the hit FOX show.
“What do you think will happen with your career? What do you see yourself doing going forward?” asked Kryst.
“Oh, I’m done with acting. I’m done pretending,” Howard replied.
When pressed about what he will do now, Howard said he simply wants to “bring truth to the world.”
“You’re finishing up, you’re no long-acting, and you’re focusing solely on philanthropy and other interests?” Kryst asked.
“No, not philanthropy; I’m just focusing on bringing truth to the world,” he replied.
The show “Empire” ended in the wake of its chief star, actor Jussie Smollett, being accused by Chicago Police of staging a hoax hate crime against himself at the hands of MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters. At the height of the controversy, Howard openly defended Smollett as more and more evidence mounted indicating his alleged guilt.
“All your lil homies got you… We love the hell outta you,” he said on Instagram at the time.
In response to critics, Terrence Howard said that the “Jussie I know” could never have concocted a fake hate crime against himself.
“That’s the only Jussie I know,” Howard said. “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.”
Eventually, the evidence that Smollett allegedly hired two brothers from Nigeria to stage a fake hate crime became so overwhelming that the “Empire” cast ultimately backed away from the enthusiastic support. After the show’s cancellation, co-creator Lee Daniels laid the blame mostly on Smollett.
“I’m beyond embarrassed,” Daniels told Vulture. “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.”
Daniels added that his love for Smollett makes him feel “some doubt” at times that the actor indeed staged a fake hate crime against himself.
“Of course, there’s some doubt,” Daniels said. “I’m telling you that because I love him so much. That’s the torture that I’m in right now, because it’s literally if it were to happen to your son and your child, how would you feel? You would feel, Please, God, please let there be that glimmer of hope that there is some truth in this story. That’s why it’s been so painful. It was a flood of pain.”
“We weren’t there. I can’t judge him,” he continued. “That’s only for the f***ing lady or man with that black robe and God. I had to detach myself and stop calling him, because it was taking away the time I have for my kids, the time I have for my partner. It was affecting my spirit and other shows, everything.”