Tiffany Boone Speaks Out About Decision to Quit ‘The Chi’

LOS ANGELES - JAN 15: Tiffany Boone at the 49th NAACP Image Awards - Arrivals at Pasadena Civic Center on January 15, 2018 in Pasadena, C — Photo by Jean_Nelson

Tiffany Boone broke her silence on why she left Showtime’s The Chi, saying in a Monday Instagram post that she is now “feeling grateful and free.”

Boone exited the series during its second season in November 2018, after alleging she was harassed by co-star Jason Mitchell, who was subsequently fired. In her Instagram post, Boone said she had no other choice but to leave.

“I wasn’t raised to quit jobs,” she wrote. “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.”

She admitted she took a “risk” by giving up a job on the critically acclaimed series, but said she felt a responsibility to “speak up.”

“You don’t carelessly leave a ‘hit show’ that is praised by your community,” she wrote. “I deeply love Chicago and the people of that city who have embraced me. I felt honored and privileged to be 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.”

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Boone, who now co-stars on Jordan Peele’s Amazon series Hunters and the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere, was one of “several actresses” on The Chi who allegedly had problems with Mitchell.

Former showrunner Ayanna Floyd Davis went public days after news of Mitchell’s firing broke in May 2019. She said she was a target of his “rage” when she tried to stop his alleged inappropriate behavior on the job. Davis also alleged that series’ executive producer and creator, Lena Waithe, was informed of Mitchell’s conduct during season one, but the actor was still allowed to return for the second season.

In a Nov. 2019 interview on The Breakfast Club, Mitchell blamed Davis for his firing.

“To be honest, I really hate to say this. I’m all for the #MeToo movement,” he said. “But I think, in this situation, Ayanna tried to use it as a really ugly weapon.”