Lee Daniels: Jussie Smollett case has caused the Empire team "pain and anger and sadness"

Deadline

“These past couple of weeks have been a freakin’ rollercoaster,” the Empire co-creator said in an emotional video posted this afternoon to Instagram, one week after the show's midseason return following Smollett's arrest for allegedly staging his own hate crime. "We have, me and my cast have experienced pain and anger and sadness and frustration and really don’t know how to deal with it,” a clearly agitated Daniels said in the video. “This is not what the show was made for,” Daniels added. “The show was made to bring America together, to talk about the atrocities happening right now in the streets." As Deadline notes, Daniels' new comments are in stark contrast to his initial reaction to Smollett's reported hate crime, when he said: "Hold your head up Jussie....I’m with you. I’ll be there in a minute, because it’s just another f*cking day in America.”