'Empire's' Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard Hope Gay Storyle Will Save Young Liv (Vio) - TheWrap

Contents:

• ‘EMPIRE’S’ TARAJI P. HENSON, TERRENCE HOWARD HOPE GAY STORYLE WILL SAVE YOUNG LIV (VIO)
• EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET
• JSIE SMOLLETT TAK PART TV'S FIRST GAY, BLACK WEDDG HIS LAST EMPIRE EPISO OF THE SEASON

‘EMPIRE’S’ TARAJI P. HENSON, TERRENCE HOWARD HOPE GAY STORYLE WILL SAVE YOUNG LIV (VIO)

After beg diagnosed wh Lou Gehrig’s Disease aka ALS, Luc cis to leave his pany to one of his three sons: his bs-smart elst, his rap star youngt son, and his middle child, Jamal, a talented sger-songwrer who has been phed asi by the fay bee he’s gay.

“There’s a mory or a majory out there who aren’t OK if their son and says they’re gay… And if they speak their md, they’re nsired bigots, which is not necsarily that. Daniels said his choice to tackle homophobia the rap world was based on his own life’s experience. “Homophobia is so rampant, not only the Amerin muny, but specifilly the Lato and the Ain-Amerin muni.

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?

EMPIRE'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

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.

"A gay filmmaker, Daniels is of urse referencg viewer exposure to the prevalence of gay character Jamal (Jsie Smollett), an R&B crooner who's among the tr vyg for Luci's crown, and whose storyle is the most rivetg and revolutnary on the show. ) Sce Empire's January 7 premiere, much has been ma of the novelty of a gay male character of lor havg such visibily on televisn, let alone a gay male character livg and workg wh the historilly homophobic hip-hop dtry. But Daniels's admirable aim to plant Empire the wily accsible hands of Fox speaks to a broar trend of queer promence on today's work-TV example, while no hungry gay viewer wh an HBO subscriptn should ny themselv the virtu of Lookg, they no longer need that subscriptn to see themselv vividly reflected on televisn.

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

And thanks to powerful gay producers like Greg Berlanti, LGBT elements are beg fold to popular ic book shows like Arrow and The Flash, both of which air on the CW.

Admtedly, all of the shows clu a certa outsized, orientatn-transcendg element that, prumably, make gay ntent more accsible for those who might not be seekg out. Gay viewers and their alli n root for Jamal his stggle to e out and fy his bigoted father, but everyone n root for his unniable talent, which Smollett, a highly gifted actor and volist, mak evint his knockout performance of "Good Enough, " the show-stopper of Empire's pilot.

And yet, for s, lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer people rarely ever saw displays of affectn.