January 8, 2015 :: 2:00 AM
Lee Daniels, the showrunner behind Fox’s new series Empire, sat down with GLAAD recently to discuss the show, which is set to feature some pretty prominent LGBT storylines, and he explained why that LGBT content was so important to him:
“Most important, an issue which is important to me, which is homophobia in the African-American community, and in the hip hop world.
I wanted to tell my story. This story is my story, as it is with many other African-American men. They’re having issues, you know, within our culture, of acceptance, bullying, etc.”
The out showrunner revealed that much of the script is drawn from his own life, including a conversation with his grandmother as a child:
“My grandmother knew that I was gay, and she saw my uncles and my cousins pick on me, and my neighbors and stuff – and I’m talking really at 4 and 5-ish. And she said to me, ‘You know, you a sissy. But it’s OK, it’ll be OK.’ And so I sort of did my own version of that.”
Daniels also spoke about the only scene in his career that he’s not been able to direct, because he was crying behind the monitor: a moment, taken from his own life, when a young boy walks downstairs wearing high heels.
“This is not just TV for me, it’s my life that’s up there… It happened to me. I walked down the stairs in my mother’s red high heel shoes, and my dad saw it and put me in the trash can. I took that, and I was 5, 4, I can’t remember. I did that and I put it in my pilot.”
Finally, he revealed his goals for the show:
“The goals for my show is to break down walls, break down the walls of hatred, towards my community – not just the African-American community, but the gay community. To enlighten everybody about what’s happening in the streets. To bring joy to people through music and laughter.”
Check out the whole interview below: