The producers of the Fox drama “Empire” announced Friday that Jussie Smollett’s character would not appear in the final two episodes of the show’s fifth season. The announcement came a day after Chicago police arrested him and said he staged an attack against himself in a bid for publicity.

Following his arrest and release on bail, Mr. Smollett had returned to the set of “Empire” and started filming scenes as his character Jamal Lyon, raising questions of how Fox would handle his presence going forward.

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“While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” the producers said in a statement. “We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”

Mr. Smollett’s arrest — and his recent loss of support from many public figures who spoke out in favor of him after the attack last month — put Fox in an extremely awkward position.