Lee Daniels On Shonda Rhimes Comparisons, ‘Empire’ & His Son Not Realizing He’s Black

If he believes there’s a sense that we’re moving into a new era where TV is much more inclusive of multicultural talent: 

Really? I can’t tell you what excites me more, that I get my stories told [with Empire]—they’re 80 percent of the show—or to look out in my writers room and see a roomful of African Americans. I think with Empire, we’ve been able to touch Hollywood in a way it hasn’t been touched before. And that’s the kind of shit I can take to my grave.

Terrence Howard

On who Terrence Howard’s character (Lucious Lyon) is based on:

Many shades of me. I can’t create anything that I haven’t lived. He’s a lot a bit of my dad, and the entrepreneurs that I’ve grown to know. He’s a lot a bit of Berry Gordy, a lot a bit of Joe Kennedy. When you think of the Kennedys, they are the American dream. Joe was bootlegging and doing all sorts of shady shit, and he produced the president of the United States.

His son having a sheltered upbringing: 

He’s 19, and he doesn’t realize that he’s a black man in America. Ignoring why taxis weren’t picking us up, … just shooting by us in New York City. And shielding him from the truth. It’s politically incorrect to talk about racism in Hollywood. But that’s not the real world. That’s not 90 percent of America. And people think that we’ve got Obama in and things have changed. In fact, I think that only inflamed things.

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