October 11 was hyped on Twitter as “National Coming Out Day,” because declaring the type of sex you like is now worthy of a whole day of celebration. With this in mind, the latest episode of Fox’s Empire had its own National Coming Out Day highlight with a special scene between record label CEO Lucious (Terrence Howard) and his gay son Jamal (Jussie Smollett).
The October 11 episode “Evil Manners” features Jamal spending time with Lucious after Lucious has suffered traumatic memory loss. As Lucious becomes reacquainted with his family, he soon rediscovers his original “intolerant,” "hateful" response to Jamal’s sexuality. Upon learning about his history, he sits down for a meaningful conversation with his son after a violent struggle with an angry associate.
Lucious: Was I a violent man like him? I mean, I know you guys are trying to protect me, but... It seems like y'all are trying to protect me from me.
Jamal: When I was six years old, you threw me in a trash can.
Lucious: I what?
Jamal: It was a party, and I came downstairs in Mom's heels and scarf or whatever. And a lot of the, you know, like friends and family were over, so it freaked you out.
Lucious: I was intolerant?
Jamal: Yeah, that's a nice way of saying it, yeah.
Lucious: That's... a hateful, ugly thing to do to somebody. I rejected you for who you are. That's wrong. It's... It's hateful.
Jamal: I mean, it wasn't easy, and, you know, I spent some time hating you, but... Dad, you were a product-- a product of, you know, where you grew up.
Lucious: No, no, no, there's no excuse for that. I mean, here I was unable to see my own son because... of some prejudice I had. I'm so sorry.
Jamal: Dad, it's okay, as long as you see me now. And you do.
Lucious: Thank you for trusting me with the truth.
Jamal: Yeah. (Chuckles)
What's a better way to celebrate more of the gradual forced acceptance of the homosexual agenda down America’s throats than more of the same old rhetoric? “Prejudice” from older times led to “intolerant” people today, yadda yadda yadda. At this rate, the “accepting a gay man for who he is” moment will become a bigger trope than a character getting amnesia, which they also seem to be doing.
Remind me again, how is this show revolutionary and popular?
