Ratings for the FOX drama Empire crashed to an all-time low on Wednesday following the abrupt decision by the Cook County prosecutor to drop all charges against the show’s embattled star Jussie Smollett.
According to TVLine, Wednesday night’s episode of Empire dropped to 3.97 million viewers. This all-time low follows last week’s low performance of only 4 million total viewers.
The ratings for the Fox drama have been in a free fall since Smollett allegedly planned a hoax attack against himself. Two weeks ago, the show’s fifth season debut episode dropped 35 percent in the ratings compared to last year.
Jussie Smollett, the star of Empire, was charged with 16 felony counts last month after Chicago police came to believe that he orchestrated a hate crime attack against himself in January, paying two Nigerian-American men to pose as racist, homophobic Trump supporters, beat him, put a rope around his neck, and yell “MAGA country!”
The charges were dropped by prosecutors Tuesday, and Smollett will face no punishment as he already performed a whole 18 hours of community service with Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
However, despite Smollett escaping justice from Cook County prosecutors he is still being investigated by the FBI for mail fraud.
The 36-year-old is also likely to be fired from Empire, according to a new report.