In its first original episode airing since star Jussie Smollett was arrested and charged with filing a false police report, “Empire” drew its second smallest audience to ever.

According to The Wrap, Ratings for the mid-season debut we down 13% overall and slipped up to 35% in the key 18-49 demographic, with an audience of 4.4 million viewers-- compared to over 5 million viewers for their previous episode and 6.2 million views from last year’s mid-season debut.