It almost seems as if art fully imitates life as one young star of Fox’s#### show “Empire” now has a record deal.
Jussie Smollett, who plays the homosexual singer Jamal, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he signed on the line with Columbia Records.
“There will be a Jussie Smollett album. I signed to Columbia. So darling [Laughs] I’m label mates with Beyoncé and Adele and Barbra Streisand,” he said in the candid conversation.
Jussie said that he wouldn’t reflect the reality depicted in “Empire,” but rather a flavor all his own.
“It’s going to be a whole different thing. Now, the Empire family will still have something to do with it. I would love for Terrence to come and oversee the production of all of the music,” he said. “And I would love for Timbaland to come on and Jim Beanz. We’ve all talked and they’re all down to work on it.”
“Empire” has continually made gains in ratings and now clocks in 16.1 million viewers as of last week. The success hasn’t fully been realized by Jussie.
It hasn’t clicked yet. The other day I went to Whole Foods and bought some chewable Vitamin C and got mobbed by like 15 girls. Today I was seven minutes late to work and I’m never late to work. I have been late to work two times,” he said. “But a van of women were in Whole Foods and I was there to get my salad for lunch. Literally, they come up and they’re like “Jamal!” And I was late because they had to stay there and try to figure out how to use their camera phones.”
“Empire” co-star Malik Yoba outted Jussie as gay in real life after the 25-year-old had previously been non-committal in interviews.