'Empire' Airs First Gay Black Weddg TV History

Contents:

• 'EMPIRE' STAR JSIE SMOLLET NFIRMS HE'S GAY
• JSIE SMOLLETT TAK PART TV'S FIRST GAY, BLACK WEDDG HIS LAST EMPIRE EPISO OF THE SEASON
• 'EMPIRE' CREATOR LEE DANIELS SAID HE'S BEEN STGGLG TO MAKE A GAY SUPERHERO MOVIE FOR YEARS BUT 'MAYBE THEY'LL GIVE TO A WHE GUY'
• 'EMPIRE' AIRS FIRST GAY BLACK WEDDG TV HISTORY

'EMPIRE' STAR JSIE SMOLLET NFIRMS HE'S GAY

------------LGBT story l and characters on work prime time aren’t new, but for a show steeped a genre that has a history of homophobia, “Empire” feels groundbreakg. Those scen are jarrg and paful to watch — but also black culture, masculy often begs and ends wh heterosexualy, and homosexualy is often seen as a sful aberratn. For a show like “Empire” — whose st is black and will likely attract a predomantly black dience — to feature a gay man who isn’t a stereotype or ic relief is bold enough s own right.

JSIE SMOLLETT TAK PART TV'S FIRST GAY, BLACK WEDDG HIS LAST EMPIRE EPISO OF THE SEASON

But seeg on a hip-hop show mak the show feel like a game ’s unlikely that there’s a sgle black gay man who won’t be able to intify wh Jamal, who’s portrayed by Jsie Smollett. Are some of those makg roads pop and rock mic, hip-hop particular lags behd acts breakg to the this time last year I wrote about FX’s “Chozen, ” an animated edy about a gay whe rapper that uld have been a provotive skewerg of the genre’s misogynist and homophobic ways. I n still remember gettg emotnal wh Frank Ocean’s poted letter on his sexualy, celebratg any time a gay rapper ma an impact on pop culture (Big Freedia’s h Fe show and Le1f’s fiery but on “Late Show Wh David Letterman” to name a few) and cheerg when big nam like Jay Z, Kanye Wt or ASAP Rocky spoke support of ’s hard not to wonr if hip-hop will ever change.

Rather than jt flailg agast his father's homophobia and retreatg to the fort of his keyboard, Jamal summoned his anger to a missn statement: He pledged to take over his father's pany. First, and I fear we've unrsold this our last two reps, how spectacular is that a work TV show picts not only a gay man of lor, but a gay man of lor the hetero-domated world of hip-hop? Lee Daniels and his team may have unrled Luc's homophobia too hard so far, havg him nsistently refer to Jamal as female and sist homosexualy is a choice egregly bluntly, but 's probably (and sadly) realistic—and mak Jamal's assertn that he is a gay man, emphasis on both of those scriptors, all the more valuable.

Unr this bric, the lik of which is ed by GLAAD and other observers to judge the media, any profsedly gay character (who is not problematilly tragic or villao) is a sign of progrs, regardls of how much or ltle that gayns flects the material of the show.

'EMPIRE' CREATOR LEE DANIELS SAID HE'S BEEN STGGLG TO MAKE A GAY SUPERHERO MOVIE FOR YEARS BUT 'MAYBE THEY'LL GIVE TO A WHE GUY'

What if we judged the gay bona fis of a show not only on whether queer people are prent somewhere s narrative universe, but also—and pecially—on how creatively that prence to lor or enhance the story’s basic amework?

'EMPIRE' AIRS FIRST GAY BLACK WEDDG TV HISTORY

Her path to that reclamatn is through managg the gay one, Jamal (Jsie Smollett), of whom (spe her referrg to him as a fag, sissy, and queen over the urse of the episo) she is a voted advote and fan.

His gayns will mark him as threateng, weak, or merely alien the mil culture which she wants to make him a star; overg those prejudic is not the kd of thg wh which sensivy trag n really help. The plex relatnship between Cookie and Jamal may be the most poignant maniftatn of Empire’s engagement wh gayns, but ’s hardly the only one. I had been told before seeg the pilot that the show had an “tertg gay character, ” but the reports overstate Jamal’s still-th characterizatn and unrstate the extent to which gayns (as relat to fay and perhaps the black muny) appears to be the show’s central ncern.

Sometim this ncern is exprsed overly blunt wrg, such as when Jamal’s boyiend rponds to his ncerns about how black dienc will rpond to a gay mician by sayg: “It’s 2015; nobody r. ” But more often is imprsively specific, faiar, and well-renred, as the way Jamal’s father and olr brother unfortably refer to his partners as “iends” and the early drs-up--mom’s-heels trma, a sort of ur-scene (apparently based on Daniels’ own experience) that will be pafully faiar to many gay men. The pot is, I was thrilled to disver over the urse of the pilot that I was not jt watchg a show that happened to offer up a gay character an unlikely ntext, but rather a show that was largely about the fascatg ictn between that ntext and gayns.