Emily in Paris actor Jeremy O. Harris has been released from detention in Japan nearly three weeks after his shock drug-smuggling arrest.
The Tony-nominated playwright, 36, was freed on Monday, according to a spokesperson for Tomishiro Police Station in Okinawa, who confirmed the update to multiple outlets.
Law enforcement officials declined to say whether Harris had been charged.
But the spokesperson said no charges were filed and that Harris will remain in Japan researching an upcoming project.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Harris’ reps for confirmation.
Harris was taken into custody at Naha Airport on Nov. 16 after customs officers allegedly discovered a crystal substance in his tote bag.
Authorities say the material tested positive for MDMA — roughly 780 milligrams, far above a typical recreational amount.
Harris rose to fame with Slave Play and later staged West End performances designated for Black-identifying audiences.
Harris had also been expected to appear at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia to support Erupcja, a movie in which he stars opposite Charli XCX.
Both he and the pop star share writing and producing credits on the film.
His planned appearance was quietly scrubbed from the festival’s schedule, and organizers offered no public explanation.
On Netflix’s Emily in Paris, Harris plays recurring character Grégory Elliott Duprée, a high-profile fashion designer who competes with Emily (Lily Collins) in the Parisian fashion world.
Harris has appeared in seasons 2, 3, and 4 of the series.
He first rose to prominence with Slave Play, the record-breaking Broadway hit that earned more Tony nominations than any play before it.
His career has stretched well beyond the stage, with producing roles on HBO’s Euphoria.
He’s also set to adapt Brit Bennett’s novel The Vanishing Half.
In February 2024, Harris defended his decision to host West End performances exclusively for Black audiences, saying the initiative allows Black people ‘to feel safe in a place where they often do not feel safe.’
Slave Play, which starred Kit Harington, best known for his role as Jon Snow on HBO’s Game of Thrones, ran at London’s Noël Coward Theatre from June to September 2024.
On July 17 and September 17, the theatre opened its doors to an ‘all-Black identifying audience,’ giving Black patrons a chance to experience the play ‘free from the white gaze.’
Harris said he was ‘so excited’ to host these special nights.
‘It is a necessity to radically invite them in with initiatives that say ‘you’re invited’. Specifically you,’ he explained.
Speaking to BBC Sounds, he added, ‘One of the things we have to remember is that people have to be radically invited into a space to know that they belong there and in most places in the west, poor people and black people have been told that they do not belong inside the theatre.
‘For me, as someone who wants and yearns for black and brown people to be in the theatre, who comes from a working class environment, who wants people who do not make six figures to feel like theatre is a place for them, it is a necessity to radically invite them in with initiatives that say ‘you’re invited’. Specifically you.’
When asked if it made him uncomfortable that white people were excluded, he responded, ‘There are a litany of places in our country that are generally only inhabited by white people, and nobody is questioning that, and nobody is saying that by inviting black audiences here you are uninvited.
‘The idea of a Black Out night is to say this is a night that we are specifically inviting black people to fill up the space, to feel safe with a lot of other black people in a place where they often do not feel safe.’
Slave Play, Harris’ groundbreaking exploration of race, identity, and sexuality in 21st-century America, was a massive hit when it debuted in 2019 but sparked controversy.
According to The Guardian, some critics argued the play—which follows three interracial couples attempting to rekindle their relationships through plantation role-play—trivialized chattel slavery and left at least one audience member ‘offended and traumatised.’
Despite the backlash, Slave Play went on to earn 12 Tony nominations in 2021.
Harris’ career achievements and public controversies now contrast sharply with his current legal troubles in Japan.
The country enforces some of the strictest drug laws in the world, pursuing even minor possession and often holding suspects for extended periods while investigations continue.
Convictions can result in multi-year prison terms, though Japan does not impose the death penalty for drug offenses.
The nation has seen other high-profile celebrity incidents: in 2018, Grammy-winning DJ David Morales was arrested at Fukuoka Airport for alleged MDMA, while decades earlier, Paul McCartney’s 1980 marijuana arrest in Tokyo led to a lengthy entry ban.
