'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset - The Atlantic</tle><meta name="scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><meta property="kx:tle" ntent="'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset - The Atlantic"/><meta property="kx:scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="image_src" href="><meta name="thor" ntent="Joe Reid, Kev O'Keeffe"/><lk rel="ia:markup_url" href="><meta property="article:publisher" ntent="><meta property="article:opn" ntent="false"/><meta property="article:ntent_tier" ntent="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" ntent="sex"/><meta property="article:sectn" ntent="Culture"/><meta property="article:published_time" ntent="2015-01-22T03:00:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" ntent="2015-01-23T21:06:58Z"/><meta name="robots" ntent="x, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised Kg Lear and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s Mystic River. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:type" ntent="article"/><meta property="og:image" ntent="><meta property="twter:rd" ntent="summary_large_image"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="Bt of The Atlantic" href="/feed/bt-of/"/><meta name="referrer" ntent="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-pable" ntent="y"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-stat-bar-style" ntent="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-tle" ntent="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" ntent="Taraji P. Henson, Naomi Campbell, gay man, drama seri Empire, Cookie, over-the-top sneerg villa, Lee Daniels, FBI plot, licly over-the-top earthquake" emID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords" ntent="Taraji P. Henson, Naomi Campbell, gay man, drama seri Empire, Cookie, over-the-top sneerg villa, Lee Daniels, FBI plot, licly over-the-top earthquake"/><meta name="" ntent="culture,sex,televisn"/><meta name="" ntent="Joe Reid, Kev O'Keeffe"/><meta name="" ntent="2015-01-22T03:00:00Z"/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"NewsArticle","headle":"'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset","alternativeHeadle":"<em>Empire</em>'s Gay Son Is the Show's Greatt Asset","scriptn":"Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?","url":","datePublished":"2015-01-22T03:00:00Z","dateModified":"2015-01-23T21:06:58Z","isAccsibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccsibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".article-ntent-body"},"publisher":{"@id":"},"maEntyOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"},"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":720},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":405},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":960},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"}],"thor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Reid","sameAs":"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Kev O'Keeffe","sameAs":"}],"articleSectn":"Culture"}</script><lk rel="preload" as="image" href=" imageSrcSet=" 750w, 828w, 960w, 976w" imageSiz="(m-width: 976px) 976px, 100vw"/><meta name="next-head-unt" ntent="61"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-g=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div data-tegory="story page"><div></div><nav class="Nav_root___6bX9" aria-labelledby="se-navigatn" data-tegory="Se Nav" data-event-module="se nav" id="ma-navigatn"><div class="Nav_maNav__yofcm"><a href="#ma-ntent" class="Nav_skipLk__Evjjd">Skip to ntent</a><h2 id="se-navigatn" class="Nav_visuallyHi__AbSDF">Se Navigatn</h2><div class="Nav_flexContaer__Q3LKQ"><ul class="Nav_leftContaer__cPQgJ"><li class="Nav_navListItem__cEyWT Nav_visuallyHiOnMobile__hxCGG"><a href=" class="Nav_navLk__5SUAA"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 87.83 134" class="Nav_bigA__XvGGC"><tle>The Atlantic

gay guy empire

Contents:

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

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.

'EMPIRE' STAR JSIE SMOLLET NFIRMS HE'S GAY

Actor and sger Jsie Smollett is one of the breakout stars of Fox's h drama Empire, and while much of the buzz surroundg him has foced on his talents, there's also been plenty said about his the show, he plays Jamal Lyon, a gay sger and the middle son of Luc (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P.

Henson) battlg his father's real life, Smollett's sexualy has been a topic of nversatn, and now he's settg the rerd an terview wh Ellen DeGener nducted backstage at Ellen, he nfirmed that he is gay and explaed why he's never felt the need to discs his personal life.

"Until his nversatn wh DeGener, Smollett nsistently refed to discs his sexualy terviews, tellg Sway on his rad show a few weeks ago that fans shouldn't assume that he's gay. ” Thgs seemed to start off breezily, until Jett asked a rather straightforward qutn out of the blue: “So like, are you gay? Maybe he is so stuck an ia of the bary and gay and straight but I am not here to teach him how to live the 21st century.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY GUY EMPIRE

'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset - The Atlantic</tle><meta name="scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><meta property="kx:tle" ntent="'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset - The Atlantic"/><meta property="kx:scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><lk rel="nonil" href="><lk rel="image_src" href="><meta name="thor" ntent="Joe Reid, Kev O'Keeffe"/><lk rel="ia:markup_url" href="><meta property="article:publisher" ntent="><meta property="article:opn" ntent="false"/><meta property="article:ntent_tier" ntent="metered"/><meta property="article:tag" ntent="sex"/><meta property="article:sectn" ntent="Culture"/><meta property="article:published_time" ntent="2015-01-22T03:00:00Z"/><meta property="article:modified_time" ntent="2015-01-23T21:06:58Z"/><meta name="robots" ntent="x, follow, max-image-preview:large"/><meta property="og:tle" ntent="'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset"/><meta property="og:scriptn" ntent="Audienc were promised Kg Lear and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s Mystic River. So why are we gettg more of the latter?"/><meta property="og:url" ntent="><meta property="og:type" ntent="article"/><meta property="og:image" ntent="><meta property="twter:rd" ntent="summary_large_image"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="The Atlantic" href="/feed/all/"/><lk rel="alternate" type="applitn/rss+xml" tle="Bt of The Atlantic" href="/feed/bt-of/"/><meta name="referrer" ntent="unsafe-url"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-pable" ntent="y"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-stat-bar-style" ntent="black"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-tle" ntent="The Atlantic"/><meta name="keywords" ntent="Taraji P. Henson, Naomi Campbell, gay man, drama seri Empire, Cookie, over-the-top sneerg villa, Lee Daniels, FBI plot, licly over-the-top earthquake" emID="#keywords"/><meta name="news_keywords" ntent="Taraji P. Henson, Naomi Campbell, gay man, drama seri Empire, Cookie, over-the-top sneerg villa, Lee Daniels, FBI plot, licly over-the-top earthquake"/><meta name="" ntent="culture,sex,televisn"/><meta name="" ntent="Joe Reid, Kev O'Keeffe"/><meta name="" ntent="2015-01-22T03:00:00Z"/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><lk rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href=" crossorig=""/><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"NewsArticle","headle":"'Empire' Rep: Jamal's Story Is the Show's Greatt Asset","alternativeHeadle":"<em>Empire</em>'s Gay Son Is the Show's Greatt Asset","scriptn":"Audienc were promised <em>Kg Lear</em> and Def Jam, not Suge Knight&#39;s <i>Mystic River</i>. So why are we gettg more of the latter?","url":","datePublished":"2015-01-22T03:00:00Z","dateModified":"2015-01-23T21:06:58Z","isAccsibleForFree":false,"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccsibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".article-ntent-body"},"publisher":{"@id":"},"maEntyOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"},"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":720},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":405},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":960},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"},{"@type":"ImageObject","width":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"height":{"@type":"QuantativeValue","unCo":"E37","value":540},"url":"}],"thor":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Reid","sameAs":"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Kev O'Keeffe","sameAs":"}],"articleSectn":"Culture"}</script><lk rel="preload" as="image" href=" imageSrcSet=" 750w, 828w, 960w, 976w" imageSiz="(m-width: 976px) 976px, 100vw"/><meta name="next-head-unt" ntent="61"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-g=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href=" data-n-p=""/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><lk rel="preload" href=" as="style"/><lk rel="stylheet" href="><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/><lk rel="preload" href=" as="script"/></head><body><div id="__next"><div data-tegory="story page"><div></div><nav class="Nav_root___6bX9" aria-labelledby="se-navigatn" data-tegory="Se Nav" data-event-module="se nav" id="ma-navigatn"><div class="Nav_maNav__yofcm"><a href="#ma-ntent" class="Nav_skipLk__Evjjd">Skip to ntent</a><h2 id="se-navigatn" class="Nav_visuallyHi__AbSDF">Se Navigatn</h2><div class="Nav_flexContaer__Q3LKQ"><ul class="Nav_leftContaer__cPQgJ"><li class="Nav_navListItem__cEyWT Nav_visuallyHiOnMobile__hxCGG"><a href=" class="Nav_navLk__5SUAA"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 87.83 134" class="Nav_bigA__XvGGC"><tle>The Atlantic .

TOP