BY ZO • APRIL 1 2019

Jussie Smollett‘s ever-shifting legal battle seems to have drained the general public. And if we’re to take Saturday Night Live‘s word for it, his former Empire crew is equally exhausted. On last night’s episode, Chris Redd portrayed the plagued actor in a meeting with his manager (the evening’s host, Sandra Oh,) and the show’s creator, Lee Daniels (Kenan Thompson.)

In the sketch, the Smollett has to, once again, conjure a tale to explain his late arrival to the meeting. Redd’s Smollett jumps straight to the cartoonish theatrics, forcing his management to piece together a story from a literal grab-bag of clues, which included, but was not limited to, whitening strips, three giant red K’s, car keys, and a receipt. After a roundtable interrogation, the panel of Empire execs decides to just let him go.

The real-life Smollett was cleared of 16 disorderly conduct charges earlier this week, stemming from his alleged orchestration of a racist and homophobic attack. He was ordered to forfeit his $10,000 bond.

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