‘The Chi’ Star Tiffany Boone Breaks Silence on Series Exit Amid Misconduct Accusations Against Jason Mitchell
Tiffany Boone, star of creator Lena Waithe’s Showtime series “The Chi,” has made her first public statement about her departure from the show back in the fall of 2018 amid misconduct allegations she made against her co-star, Jason Mitchell. He was fired from the series in May 2019. Specific details related to the nature of the misconduct have yet to be disclosed. Boone, who next appears in the Amazon series “Hunters,” broke her silence via Instagram. See the post below.
“I wasn’t raised to quit jobs. Yet, a day came when I had to be brutally honest with myself about what I was willing to sacrifice just to have a job. Was I able to compromise my values, integrity, and happiness just to be employed?” said Boone, who left the show in November 2018.
“You don’t carelessly leave a ‘hit show’ that is praised by your community,” Boone said. “I deeply love Chicago and the people of that city who have embraced me. I felt honored and privileged to be a part of telling their story. The weight of what I was leaving behind felt like a ton, but the weight of my responsibility to speak up was even heavier. There were people who questioned my decision. How could I be sure I would work again, especially on a project of that magnitude? I wasn’t sure, but I had faith that once I took that leap I could be guided wherever I was supposed to go.”
Around the time of Mitchell’s firing, an investigation by The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Boone was not the only alleged victim of his misconduct. Ayanna Floyd Davis said, “As showrunner, I did everything I could to deal with his behavior, by speaking with the studio’s HR department multiple times and instructing one actress to call HR herself, before I became a target of his rage and inappropriateness, and had to report him to HR, as well.” Waithe has said she was not aware of Mitchell’s alleged behavior until the first season had wrapped. The third season of “The Chi” — which just released a trailer today — will premiere on Showtime on July 5.
