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Why Empire's Homophobia Storyline Made Taraji P. Henson "Panic"

Creator Danny Strong also gives his take on what make this breakout new TV hit such a great story

By Kristin Dos Santos Jan 22, 2015 3:00 AMTags
Watch: Taraji P. Henson Talks Whirlwind "Empire" Premiere

Just another reason for "Cookie Fever" to sweep the country: Taraji P. Henson has some pretty cool things to say about Empire's deeply moving—and disturbing—homophobia storyline, which was front and center in tonight's episode.

[Don't read if you haven't watched yet!]

The decades-old struggle between Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) and his son Jamal (Jussie Smollet) came to a head tonight, when Jamal finally stood up to his unsupportive, homophobic and abusive father, choosing to move out of his apartment and cut financial ties.

Watch: Jussie Smollett Lives Out Dreams on "Empire"

Empire isn't just dancing around the topic of homophobia—it's tackling head on. And even though it's only one of many richly layered storylines of midseason TV's biggest breakout series thus far, to have a leading man on TV say, and do, such awful things to his own son (including flashback scenes of him dumping his 5-year-old  into a garbage can), was certainly a risk. Howard's Lucious Lyon is not incredibly likeable (understatement).  And Taraji herself will be the first to tell you: She initially was terrified of how viewers would react.

"That's what scared me and made me nervous," Taraji tells me. "I didn't know whether I should or I shouldn't (do the show). Like, 'Is this going to do bad for my career?' That's the first thing you do, you panic. Because I read the script and I'm like, ‘Oh my god, this is brilliant but it's scary because you're forcing people to think.' Then I settled down and I got past the fear and said, "The fear is here for a reason. And if I'm feeling like this, other people are feeling like this, and if we don't talk about it, then we're gonna be a world full of scared people.'"

Taraji says that now, she could not be more pleased with her decision to do the brave new series—which has received rave reviews, high ratings and already, a second-season pickup from Fox.  "As an artist, I don't like to do safe work," she explains. "I like to do work that is going to push people to think. That's what art is supposed to do. If art really imitates life, it isn't going to be so pretty. People are going to disagree. There's going to be hate, there's going to be love, there's going to be conflict. And that's what I love about this show. Because it's not safe at all."

Chuck Hodes/FOX

Empire co-creator Danny Strong says that for his part, he never worried if the homophobia storyline might be too much. " I was never concerned about that," he tells me. "I don't think about those kinds of things. I don't think about the viewers—no offense to the viewers. I just think about what do I think is great story, and what do I think is an exciting story. And Lee [Daniels] and I were on the exact same page with that. And to me, the homophobia element of the show, addressing homophobia in American culture, was an important part of the show so we could have this really juicy, fun soap opera but also one that was grounded in real issues that are really important to our culture today."

Jussie Smollett, who quite honestly could not be more infectious in his enthusiasm that he is currently living out all his dreams (see how adorable he is in the video above, and just try not to smile!), had this to tease about what's ahead for his character Jamal and father Lucious: "Without giving away too much, Lucious does not stay in the same place as when we first met him. He does progress. He's not going to say, ‘Oh, I'm so supportive of my son being gay that I'm going to be this beautiful parent that goes to marches with him.' That's not him. But at a certain point, whatever his views are, there is some amount of respect."

Check out the exclusive video interviews above for Taraji's take on what makes Cookie so incredible (we co-sign on her nickname for her) and why Jussie believes all you need is Empire and water to survive in this life. Sounds about right.