‘Empire’ Creator Lee Daniels Deletes Video Blaming ‘Racist F*ck’ on Day of Jussie Smollett ‘Attack’

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 18: Jussie Smollett and Lee Daniels attend the after party for'T
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Justin Caruso

Lee Daniels, co-creator of the Fox TV show Empire, stealthily deleted an Instagram video this week about the “attack” against Jussie Smollett. In the vulgar video, Daniels described the supposed attack as “just another fucking day in America.”

“It’s taking me a minute to come to social media about this, because Jussie, you are my son. You didn’t deserve, nor anybody deserves, to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach thrown on you, to be called ‘Die faggot, nigga,’ or whatever they said to you,” Lee Daniels said in the video.

“You are better than that. We are better than that. America is better than that,” he continued. “It starts at home, it starts at home, yo.”

“We have to love each other, regardless of what sexual orientation we are, because it shows that we are united on a united front, and no racist fuck can come in and do the things that they did to you,” the producer said.

“Hold your head up, Jussie. I’m with you, I’ll be there in a minute. It’s just another fucking day in America.”

The 36-year-old Smollett has now been arrested and charged with a felony for allegedly filing a false police report.

As of Friday afternoon, the video was deleted from Daniels’ Instagram page.

Daniels’ posts on Twitter about Smollett, however, are still up:

The producers of Empire, a group that includes Daniels, did issue a statement Friday about Smollett’s future on the show.

“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our EMPIRE family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” the statement reads.

“We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”

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