In the April 18 episode of Fox’s Empire, titled “Of Hardiness is Mother,” a random profane line is inserted into a conversation about Cookie’s rising blood pressure as she blames it on President Trump’s tweeting. Yes, really.
Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) suffered a heart attack during last week’s episode and the Lyon family is scrambling to help her fully recover. In order to change her lifestyle into a healthier one, Lucious (Terrence Howard) hires a chef to prepare heart-healthy meals for the family. As the family sits down to a meal together, Lucious presents Cookie with a gift – a fitness bracelet that monitors heart rate and blood pressure. When either increase, the monitor sets off an alert. Lucious programed it to notify him on his phone when the monitor goes off so that he can keep an eye on Cookie.
Well, the monitor went off as Cookie was getting worked up asking the Lyon family’s fixer to track down some information for her. Lucious calls her to ask about what is going on for her monitor to go off. She didn’t want Lucious to know what she’s up to so she lamely blames her rising blood pressure on President Trump’s tweets.
Cookie: He llo, Lucious.What's up?
Lucious: Your blood pressure, that's what's up. What are you doing? You running laps?
Cookie: No, look, I got upset, alright? That bitch Trump is tweeting again. How did you know...Lucious: It's cal
led technology, baby.
Cookie: This watch?
Lucious: Look, I need you to sit down, put your feet up. Matter of fact, where's Porsha?
Cookei: Porsha? Well, you know, I sent her out to get me some more tofu. Look, I'm gonna put my legs up right now as we speak. I'm sitting down, okay? I'll text you later. All right, bye-bye. I can't have this watch snitching on me.
Earlier, when an old friend from Cookie’s days in prison comes for a visit, Cookie tells her how happy she is for the visit. She appreciates not having to sit around and just watch the news on television. As the newscaster in the background is heard saying something about a protest rally over mass killings, the screen quickly flashed to March 24's March to Save Our Lives in Washington, D.C. Cookie says the news is depressing.
So, this is television programming in Trump’s America. No matter how brief or how random, a sentence will work its way into the dialogue to smack President Trump. In this case, Cookie also referred to the leader of the free world as a “bitch.” Just lovely. It’s tiresome, not entertaining.
