Jussie Smollett said that when producers tried to give his Empire character Jamal Lyon a white boyfriend he objected immediately.
Said Smollett on The Clay Cane Show: “There was talk about Jamal having a white boyfriend and I said, ‘F**k no!' Not for any reason except we have a responsibility and we have a such a beautiful opportunity to show two black men in a relationship together, in a healthy relationship. But it was important to say and that wasn't anything against white men. It was just a thing of no, no, no, no… this is what I hope, this what I want to see, this what I wished I had seen as a kid because if I had seen certain things as an adolescent I would have had a much different understanding of who I am in an earlier space. I do think that is important to show.”
Smollett and Cane went on to talk about the movie Moonlight and the American public's objections to sexuality.
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