Chicago police say Empire actor Jussie Smollett was upset that his salary for the hit Fox show was not enough, a salary that is reportedly over $1 million annually according to a news report.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said investigators believe Smollett staged the fake hate crime to boost his public profile because he was “dissatisfied with his salary,” which apparently amounted to around $1,170,000 per season, a HuffPost writer reported:
Scoop: A well-placed source familiar with his comp tells me @JussieSmollett was being paid $65,000 per episode for his co-starring role on Empire. Average season has 18 episodes. Police say his dissatisfaction with his salary let him to stage this hoax. https://t.co/FuDas9AcN8
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 21, 2019
Fox, however, hasn’t publicly confirmed that amount.
The median income for Chicago, where Smollett presumably lives, was around $68,403 in 2017, a little more than the per episode amount given above.
Additionally, the vast majority of actors have difficulty finding full-time acting jobs and often have another job to make a living between acting roles, according to Project Casting.
“Most actors tend to have a hard time finding steady work, and many actors rarely receive recognition for their work,” reported Project Casting. “Other actors can work as background actors or ‘Extras.'”
“Extras are actors that have no lines but are included in a scene to make the scene feel more realistic. Some actors also do voiceover work or narration for audiobooks, animated movies, or other productions.”
The police believe Smollett paid two brothers to help stage the attack on himself, with Johnson adding that the pair were paid a total of $3500 by personal check.
Now that the Chicago Police have labeled the alleged racial attack on Jussie Smollett a hoax, Jussie’s story is imploding at light speed.
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