An actor on Fox's musical drama Empire has been arrested, reports People.
According to People, Morocco Omari was arrested in Chicago following a woman's claims that the Empire star shoved her to the ground. Chicago police reportedly were called at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, in which an unnamed woman accused Omari of pushing her during an argument. Later that day, People reports that Omari was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery.
In a statement reported by People, Omari’s publicist called the allegations "blatantly false" and insisted that the actor was a non-violent person. After thanking fans for their support, the publicist said in a statement:
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“[Omari] was brought up by his mother and grandmother and is the proud father of two minor daughters. He has long been an advocate of anti-violence against women.”
Omari's publicist added:
“He has never displayed any hint of violence toward women and never will...Violence against women simply isn’t in Omari’s DNA.”
Omari has appeared on 15 episodes of Empire as Tariq Cousins, the half brother of Lucious Lyons (Terrence Howard) and a troublemaker-turned-FBI-agent who pursues a murder case against his music-producing sibling. Omari was named a series regular in season 3 after appearing in the final three episodes of the show's second season. At the end of season 2 it was revealed that, in addition to sharing a past with Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), Tariq was related to Lucious.
Prior to his role on Empire, Omari has appeared on series like Homeland, Chicago Fire, and NCIS. He also had a recurring role as Principal Stephen Chadwick on Joan of Arcadia, opposite Amber Tamblyn, and on Dragnet as Detective Latrell.
Recently, Cousins' co-star Howard went on a Twitter rant in which he defended himself from accusations of domestic violence. In January of 2017, Howard's ex-wife Michelle Ghent dropped a 2015 lawsuit against the actor for assault, emotional distress, and defamation.
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