Tiffany Boone has addressed her departure from Showtime's Lena Waithe-created series The Chi for the first time. She left the show in late 2018 after she made misconduct allegations against her co-star, Jason Mitchell. He was fired from The Chi in May 2019, but the specifics of the allegations have not made public.
In a post on Instagram, Boone said she wasn't ready to discuss what happened, but she is ready to talk about how leaving the show impacted her.
In the extensive statement, she described hearing about Jason Mitchell's firing from The Chi. "In full transparency, I was aware that some news was coming, but work had allowed me to focus elsewhere," she wrote. "I'd heard whispers that my previous co-star had been fired from a new project and subsequently fired from the show we worked on together. ... I had finished my time on The Chi in November of 2018 and had already been working on a new series for several months."
She went on to explain that it wasn't an easy decision to leave the show. "I deeply love Chicago and the people of that city who have embraced me," she continued. From there she added that she was worried she wouldn't have the opportunity to work again, but has since gone on to find success again and will star in Amazon's Nazi hunting TV show Hunters alongside Al Pacino.
"I'd already spoken to HR and high-level producers about a few of my concerns after season one," she added. "I returned for season two, feeling assured that HR training would set the show on the right track. However, once we started filming, I quickly realized that not everyone was interested in creating a work environment that was conducive to each person feeling safe, seen, and heard."
Despite this, more conversations were had with HR, resulting in her request to be released from her contract. "It was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made," she said. "With all that said, I know that people expect to hear the details of everything I encountered along this journey. I completely understand that desire. At this time, I am not in a place where I am comfortable sharing any more than I already have."
Mitchell has denied the allegations on numerous occasions. "To be honest I'm not 100 percent sure what the allegations themselves were," he explained on The Breakfast Club last year. He also claimed that there was "no situation" between him and Boone.
Read her full statement above.
