CNN's DON LEMON HATES EMPIRE

LemonTaraji           EmpireDenzel
Don Lemon               Taraji P. Henson               Empire Cast              Denzel Washington
 
Don Lemon Confesses his  feelings about Empire in jest:
I’m a hater; for today at least. I’m not one normally. You guys know that.
And I’m hating on the TV show Empire. I hate that show.
Wanna know why? I hate it because it keeps me up to watch it on my DVR or On Demand when I have to wake up early for The TJMS.
I hate that Terrence Howard gets to play Cookie’s husband instead of me.
Yes, I’m hating on Terrence too.
I hate that I’m not in it.
I hate that Raven Simone gets a guest role on the show and I don’t.
I hate that it wasn’t on TV a long time ago.
I hate that it took so long for a show with a mostly black cast, which reminds me of the characters on Dynasty in the 1980’s, took until 2015 to gain wide acceptance from the American public.
I hate that it took so long for a show like this one to come around which unapologetically shows positive images of black gay men and Black gay women to the masses.
I hate that the show gets criticized for having the nerve to show gay men and women kissing and that test audiences reacted negatively to those scenes before the show even aired.
Much of that reaction happens because people spread and listen to nonsense like this from Boyce Watkins:
“You got one son who is gay, which is fine to be gay.  At the same time there is a consistent effort in Hollywood to emasculate the Black male. Chris Rock made that point very clearly and I agree with him that black men who are masculine with bass in their voice, heterosexual males don’t tend to do as well in Hollywood as men who are gay or men who are promoting a gay agenda. Let’s just be clear about that.”
Then somebody needs to tell that to Denzel or Morgan or Laurence or Sidney or Jamie or Samuel or James Earl or Eddie or Idris or Billy Dee or Will. You get my point.
By the way, how much or little bass is in your voice or being masculine has nothing to do with sexuality. I know plenty of effeminate straight men and plenty of masculine gay men.
I hate that it seems to have taken forever for a TV series to show relatable characters and experiences from the rap and hip hop music industry.
And I hate that some people who love to criticize don’t understand that Black families are just as nuanced and complicated as any other family and that the masses need to see it.
“Apparently that’s what Black people are. We’re former drug dealers turned hip hop moguls, married to women who went to prison named Cookie, ok fine.  Nothing wrong with going to prison.  I know some people who went to prison who are actually very good people, but that’s not a reflection of the entirety of our community.”
Well, you got the last part right.
No show is reflective of the entirety of our community, and I don’t think Empire is even trying to be that.
I hate that Black actors, actresses, directors, producers and writers don’t get the leeway to just be creative  unpredictable and evolutionary when it comes to projects like this and in other professions like journalism.
I hate that some people are trying to put Lee Daniels and Taraji P Henson in a box, a black box. . . . Cookie don’t play that and neither does Lee Daniels.
 
Keep going.
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