Empire 's Gay Son Is the Show's Greatt Asset

Contents:

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

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

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. 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? 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.

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

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. We n bate whether is fair (or sirable) to term Empire a “gay show, ” but ’s arguable that the sissy seri—if liv up to the promise of s pilot—has the potential to advance the gay reprentatn nversatn a nsirable amount. 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.

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

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. Thanks to streamg works like HBO Max, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Showtime, we're gettg some of the bt gay sex on TV we've ever you're lookg for a sexy show to watch wh a iend or by yourself, here are some of our favor.

Henson provi the groundwork for a serly talented st, cludg Jsie Smollett, who plays Howard and Henson's characters' gay son, a recent terview wh XFINITY, Smollett talked about his tense scen wh Howard, whose character is pletely censed by his son's liftyle, and his character's on-screen relatnship wh Rafael la Fuente's character, Michael. For Your Viewg PleasureWe've almost reached the pot where gay characters on televisn are no longer a taboo, and dare we say mastream. The are 10 of our favore gay sex scen om the bt shows on televisn.