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.
IS EMPIRE 'TOO GAY'? HERE IS HOW ONE CAST MEMBER REACTED
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.
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. His character's story was spired by the personal acunt of the shownner of "Empire, " Lee the age of 19, Jsie Smollett me out to his parents, and 2015 he openly admted to beg gay on Ellen Degener's show. Acrdg to our sister se Deadle, Bch will play “Chase One, a sexy, gifted, avant-gar gay artist who’s dog a photo shoot, and is fatuated wh his male star.