Jussie Smollett, Stealth ‘Empire’ Instagrammer, Finds a New Target

Jussie Smollett has secretly been filming his Empire co-stars in between takes for our Instagram entertainment for two seasons now, with Taraji P. Henson being his favorite (and most volatile) prey. Here’s a quick reminder of how their run-ins usually go.

As Jussie, 33, wrote in the caption, “At this point it’s just a reflex 2 slap the $heit outta me. I always get nervous when she’s about to wake up so you can see my heart beating through my chest. @tarajiphenson is hella regal asleep tho.”

Here’s another clip of Jussie getting smacked upside the head by Taraji, 46.

And one where Jussie escaped without injury.

But lucky for Taraji, there’s a new queen on the Empire set who Jussie has decided to focus his attention on. Phylicia Rashad, of The Cosby Show fame, joins the cast this season, along with Taye Diggs. She’ll play Diane Dubois, the mother of Angelo Dubois, Taye’s New York politician character who could potentially be a new love interest for Taraji’s Cookie.

Phylicia made her first appearance on Jussie’s Instagram Thursday. As the beautiful actress, 68, sat quietly singing to herself in between takes, Jussie casually leaned around a corner to capture it all, and in his caption was able to both praise Phylicia and throw a little shade on Taraji. “I’ve got a new target… And it’s #PhyliciaRashad. See how classy Ms. Rashad is when I film her? She doesn’t beat me. She doesn’t hit me with water bottles. She doesn’t tell me she hates me. @tarajiphenson why can’t you treat me so kindly?”

He continued, “on the real tho… We have #Royalty on set of @empirefox and we couldn’t be more honored. #ThisPostWasApprovedByMsRashad #IAintNoBusta.”

However, Taraji saw that Jussie was up to no good and can be seen in the background of the clip yelling at Jussie to stop filming Phylicia “in her private moments.” To which Jussie yelled back, “Mind your business, Taraji!”

While we’re sure it’s exciting for Jussie to have a new subject, something tells us he’s going to get back to antagonizing Taraji soon enough.