Fox's new hip-hop seri tak a stand by troducg a gay character wh a notorly homophobic genre
Contents:
- EMPIRE SEASON 2: MEN AT WORK STAR TO RECUR AS OBSSIVE GAY PHOTOG
- IS EMPIRE 'TOO GAY'? HERE IS HOW ONE CAST MEMBER REACTED
EMPIRE SEASON 2: MEN AT WORK STAR TO RECUR AS OBSSIVE GAY PHOTOG
But the seri, which premier Wednday, mak s bolst statement wh a sgle character — a gay one. ------------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. 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.
IS EMPIRE 'TOO GAY'? HERE IS HOW ONE CAST MEMBER REACTED
Instead, offered a lazy array of tired and sophomoric gay jok and lasted one that there hasn’t been progrs elsewhere. 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.
Y, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ h “Same Love” was a landmark moment, but that’s jt one song a sea of foul missiv directed at gays.