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Empire
Where did things go wrong with Empire? The show was an instant phenomenon when launched earlier this year, with the fierce Cookie Lyon (all hail Taraji P. Henson) and gay son Jamal (Jussie Smollett). The Lee Daniels-produced series tackled homophobia head-on and even gave Jamal several relationships—and some great musical numbers.
Then, Season Two happened: Jamal and former BF Michael (Rafael de la Feunte) were quickly reunited—and broken up again—after Michael got some oral attention from a sleazy photographer. What’s more, Jamal, who never mentioned being bisexual, hooked up with Alicia Keys with no real explanation other than music has the power to toss your sexuality out the window.
We’re still scratching our heads about this turn of events and the message it’s sending to the audience. Can the right girl suddenly turn a gay man straight? (Ditto for lesbians, apparently, as Marisa Tomei’s lesbian character suddenly went from wanting Cookie to Lucious.) Let’s just pull a Dallas and pretend that we were stuck in Lucious’s cluttered, homophobic mind the last few episodes. Please.
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