USC has responded to Empire star Taraji P. Henson’s claims her son was racially profiled while visiting the campus, which resulted in her enrolling him in the historically African American college, Howard University, instead.
In an interview with Uptown Magazine, Henson said her 20-year-old son was stopped by police, who “illegally” searched his car.
On Monday, USC’s executive director of the school’s Department of Public Safety, John Thomas, released a statement saying he was “deeply disturbed” by what happened to Henson’s son.
Fox News reports he wrote, “We encourage reporting of allegations of bias and I hope for the opportunity to have a conversation with the young man and his mother.”
Thomas continued to write that he himself has “personally experienced” being racially profiled so he volunteered to look into the incident “further.”
“Any allegation of bias or unequal treatment by university officers would trigger an investigation that I would supervise along with the university’s Office of Equity and Diversity,” he also wrote, saying he wasn’t aware of which particular police department pulled over Henson’s son.
After seemingly getting some backlash for her comments, Henson tweeted that everyone should “give it a rest.”
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