New show to tackle homophobia in the African-American community
A NEW TV show that features a young gay African-American man struggling for acceptance from his hip-hop music mogul father will premiere in Australia next month.
To be shown on free-to-air channel Eleven, Empire had its first episode aired recently in the US and has already been given the green light for a second season.
According to the show’s creator Lee Daniels, he hopes to “blow the lid off homophobia” in the African-American community through a story arch involving characters Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) and his gay son Jamal (Jussie Smollett).
In the first episode, the audience is shown how hostile Luscious is of his son’s homosexuality in a sit down meeting they have at his entertainment company’s office, explaining the reason why his son would not sell records.
“This is the last time I have this talk with you, your sexuality, that’s a choice. You can choose to sleep with women if you like. I’m saying this to help you … there are a lot of people in this country that don’t appreciate people like you,” Howard’s character says.
The show also looks into the family’s past with flashbacks of a young Jamal being caught wearing high heels by his homophobic father.
Smollett has stated that the gay element to the show was “not shoving anything down your throat. It’s not preaching, it’s not telling you the way that you should feel about a certain issue, but it is giving you options”.
However, Smollett recently tweeted about an intimate scene between his character and on-screen latino lover.
Yeah so ummmm… #JamalLyon just shot a sex scene for the masses. You. Are. Not. Ready. But you will in fact have to wait. #Empire
— Jussie Smollett (@JussieSmollett) January 17, 2015
Watch the official trailer below:
