Lee Daniels, who is half of the brains behind the entire operation of the new Fox hit series “Empire,” had a recent interview with Daily Extra to discuss the very relevant topic of gay relations within the series. He was asked by the interviewer about viewers reaction to Empire & the gay content that is featured & whether or not he felt that gay people were “3rd class citizens”. Daniels hesitated for a bit to gather his thoughts before giving him a stern “yes” & then went on to elaborate on how society still places a stigma behind homosexuality that we just can’t seem to shake, no matter how open & accepting we may seem to be about it in this day & time.
He also touched on how his test audience was given a 1-10 scale on rating the show, 1 being the lowest rating & 10 being the highest, & how nearly everyone in the audience was locked in at a 10 until they saw the gay couple kiss. After showing that scene, each persons rating plummeted to a 0 which made it very clear that people didn’t want to admit to their homophobia & it still is unaccepted.
Cecilia King of Huffing Post also touched on the subject & spoke with the creators of the show about the plummeting ratings.. The creators were asked on what should be done about those ratings & they simply said “nothing at all”; it is their mission to tackle these issues head on.
Check out the Huffington Post article here.
© 2015, Niyah Nel. All rights reserved.
