(Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)
During Saturday night’s presentation of the NAACP Image Awards, it was clear that Jussie Smollett was not in attendance. Although Smollett was absent, it did not stop Chris Rock from addressing the current controversy that is surrounding the Empire star.
Rock took the stage to present the award for outstanding comedy series and in doing so he began with a Jussie Smollett joke. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rock started out by saying “They said no Jussie Smollett jokes.” He continued to go to say, “From now on, you’re Jessie from now on. You don’t even get the ‘U’ no more. That ‘U’ was respect. You don’t get no respect from me.”
Since January, Smollett has been in the news when he claimed that he was attacked by two Trump supporters and for recently having all 16 felony counts for allegedly lying to authorities against him dropped.
Black-ish star Yara Shahidi shared that she still supports the actor during her acceptance speech, after Rock’s jokes by saying “I stand with Jussie.”