Tag Archives: Fox

‘Empire’ Remember Tiana’s Bisexuality By Giving Her A Threesome With Rumer Willis & Hakeem In A Hot Tub

Rumer Willis is the newest star to have a stint on Empire, playing singer-songwriter Tory Ash – an addiction-riddled singer whose entire look on the show appears to parallel the life of Amy Winehouse.

Now, new stills from the hit drama show Willis character frolicking in a giant soapy bathtub with Tiana Brown (Serayah McNeill).

The ladies kiss and caressed each other in a hot tube, before Brown’s on-off boyfriend Hakeem Lyon (played by Bryshere Y. Gray) gets involved in the action.

Yet again, disappointing from a series that started out so strong and with positive queer visibility – especially with it’s handling with Jamal – it still leans on lusty lesbian stereotypes to boast ratings.

Which is super sad, considering the show was created by an out gay man (Lee Daniels) and showrunner Ilene Chaiken (creator of The L Word)

 

Ilene Chaiken’s ‘Empire’ Is Killing Off More Lesbians

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead, if you have not watched the April 6 episode of Empire.

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Empire did its part to keep the Dead Lesbian Syndrome saga going this week by killing off Mimi Whiteman (Marisa Tomei) and her wife Camilla Marks-Whiteman (Naomi Campbell) – the new power lesbians of music.

Their demise joins a long list of lesbian / bisexual TV character who have met their end the past few weeks. The 100 killed off, just after she consummated her relationship with her female lover. AMC’s The Walking Dead also killed off, as did Syfy’s The Magicians, The Expanse, CBS medical drama Code Black and CW’s Jane the Virgin.

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Though the pattern of television deaths has become a recent trend, Empire showrunner (and creator of The L Word) Ilene Chaiken was quick to explain that the shocking double death does not fall into the same category.

I think that we aren’t a part of that phenomenon or conversation.”

Speaking about Campbell’s character (who had sex with a man, in the scene prior to her death), Chaiken explains:

I would say that Camilla is not a lesbian character. Camilla was, if anything, an opportunist, which is quite different from being a lesbian. If anything, the lesbians should wish for a character like Camilla to be killed off since she just preyed on a powerful lesbian in order to fulfill her heterosexual ambitions.”

Empire has always been a show inclusive of LGBTQ relationships, primarily with a series-long storyline revolving around one of the main characters Jamal Lyon (Jussie Smollett) publicly embracing his sexuality and becoming a role model for gay fans in the hip-hop community.

But the series has proven that everybody is fair game for beat downs, insults, getting shot, melodramatic tumbles down the stairs and on and on.

We also have to remember the show is currently working to regain its footing, and killing off characters (especially lesbians) keeps things lively.

Mimi and Camilla were prop characters, and it’s a shame they were wiped out as opposed to given more depth, more compelling backstory, more thought.

So, are there any plans to introduce a loving lesbian couple on Empire? Chaiken says.

No plans at the moment, but it’s always in my thoughts. I don’t know whether anybody else shares my wish for that, but I’m always looking for that story.”

Empire Season 2 Premieres And Sadly The Lesbian Stereotypes Come Out To Play

Last night saw the return Empire for it’s second season, and boy did we have mixed feelings about it all.

The show has always had gay edge, with showrunner Ilene Chaiken (creator of The L Word) making sure that queer women got their due.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxP8zRcp4Q

And now we have Marisa Tomei playing Mimi Whiteman in the mix – a powerful woman whose money is their to help the family out of a jam.

Mimi’s a lesbian, and her sexuality is a central plot point, since Cookie seems to be courting her business entirely through flirtation.

The ploy is ridiculous. It shouldn’t take any canoodling to see that the record label is a good investment.

What’s more, it’s disappointing for a show as sensitive and dynamic about queerness as Empire has been with Jamal to lean on lusty lesbian stereotypes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QJGsWah3YM

Tomei has signed up for a multi-episode arc so hopefully this character will be defined a bit more.

But besides Tomei, we’ll also be meeting Freda (played by newcomer Bre-Z ), a young lesbian rapper who intrigues Luscious.

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Bre-Z recently told Okayplayer about her role:

Between (Jamal Lyon & Freda Gatz’s character), their sexuality is not who they are. And I feel like that goes for anybody. None of your sexual likenesses are displayed in public view whether you’re with a man or a woman or the same sex. What you do in your bedroom is your business. There’s no need to make a spectacle of it, but you do have to acknowledge that it exists and treat people accordingly, and not be hateful and not a bully or taunt people because they may not walk in the same shoes as you do.”

Bre-Z’s first track for Empire is out now, called “Same Song,” which she describes as “a song about that struggle of being a young black girl… trying to pursue our dreams. All of us tend to sing the same old song. Some people don’t see no way out of that, but you got to make a way. It’s a little piece of me. I love it!”

Bisexual pop star Tiana (Serayah McNeill) and queer DJ Chicken (AzMarie Livingston) are also back this season, and Serayah teased that her character, who is now a series regular, will show more of herself, although no word on if her girlfriend will make a reappearance.

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Seryah told CY Interview

We’ve seen Tiana for the crazy things she’s done. But this season I think there’s gonna be a lot more in-depth with Tiana and her feelings and maybe some more of where she comes from and just seeing her more I think will give people more of an insight on my character.”

We will wait to see how these other stories play out.

Ilene Chaiken Discusses Empire’s Queer Women, The L Word Reboot

One of the surprise breakout hits of the television season has been Empire. The TV show, created by filmmaker Lee Daniels, revolves around the Lyon family: their nefarious dad Lucious, three sons (Andre, Jamal and Hakeem) and the boys’ mother, Cookie Lyon who has just been released from prison after taking the fall for the dad’s crime.

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The show was praised by critics and fans alike not just for the way that it kept viewers on the edge of their seats, watching its power struggles, secrets and lies play out but also by the way that it embraced diversity.

The cast is predominantly African-American and one of its main characters – Jamal – also begins the show as a closeted gay man who struggles with the fact that his dad doesn’t accept his sexuality.

But Jamal isn’t the only one whose queerness is explored on the show as we also saw Tiana, the girlfriend of Hakeem, with her female love interest, India.

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Season two of Empire beings back Tiana but it also introduces another queer woman, a billionaire venture capitalist played by (Oscar-winning actress) Marisa Tomei. She has signed up for a multi-episode arc and Empire fans are eager to see how her character will get involved in the Lyon family drama and if she’ll be romantically involved with anyone too.

Speaking to After Ellen, Empire showrunner Ilene Chaiken says that

…she plays a really important role in the melodrama of Season 2. She’s a fabulous character. We’ve having loads of fun with her. But she also plays an important role in the soap, in the treachery, in the Cookie vs. Lucious and in the fate of Empire.”

And when quizzed on whether Tomei’s character is single, Chaiken gave a cryptic answer of “that remains to be seen”, though the show will make it clear that she’s gay as we learn her sexuality definitively in the season premiere. Chaiken wouldn’t say how that would be shown, but she did say that it’s “not subtle”.

Many Empire fans may also be hoping Tomei’s character gets together with Cookie Lyon. Chaiken says that the billionaire is a “womanizer” and that “she and Lucious might turn out to have similar taste in women”.

Then, when asked by AE on whether or not Cookie is interested in women, she notes that both she and Taraji P. Henson (who plays Cookie) maintain that although Lucious was the only man Cookie had ever been with, that didn’t mean that she was the only person she’d ever been with – after all, she had been in a women’s prison for 17 years.

As for Chaiken’s other show, The L Word, she also spoke to the publication about a possible reboot.

She says she would “love to [reboot the show], but we really need a compelling reason to do it” and that if it did come back “it would feature some of the original cast and a lot of new characters”.

 

Unfortunately, if it got greenlit, Chaiken says she wouldn’t be able to do it “right now” but that doesn’t rule it out completely forever.

So keep your fingers crossed for a return of the iconic talking, laughing, loving, breathing, and fighting group of queer women at some point in the future.

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Fox Releases First Footage of The X-Files Revival (Video)

This week, Fox unveiled the first look at the upcoming six-part event series.

The show’s social media accounts announced — via Twitter — that they’ll be counting down the 201 days until the 2016 revival by revisiting an episode a day of the original series.

And, as a bonus, the trailer for the re-watch features the first new footage of Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoIRNja8pMc

Fox’s ‘Empire’ is Casting a Butch Female Rapper for Season 2

According to reports, the Empire’s producers are on the hunt for an actress to play the recurring, potentially breakout role of Betty Barz – a “moody, outspoken” teenage rapper who’ll be introduced in Season 2.

Betty, who’s also known as “Betty Gathers” and “The Queen O’ 16S” is described as African-American, “unapologetically butch,” and something of a hometown hero in her “Brownsville-Never-Ran-Never-Will, Brooklyn” neighbourhood.

Her undeniable talent has led to her winning “more rhyme battles and girls’ hearts than the best male vets on her block.”

We’re guessing “winning girls’ hearts” means the new character is a lesbian, but then again…

The character is set to be introduced in the season opener of the show titled “The Devils Are Here” and despite the fact that she’s “charismatic and witty with a street lean,” the artist’s road to fame with the titular entertainment company won’t be an easy one.

Co-created by out director Lee Daniels, the first season was lauded for shining a spotlight on a range of LGBT issues, among them child abuse, coming out, and homophobia in the world of hip-hop. But there’s always more ground to cover.

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The show already features AzMarie’s (America’s Next Top Model star, partner to Raven-Symoné), who plays character is Chicken – a masculine of centre, queer woman of colour.

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Chicken is best friends with Hakeem, played by Yazz the Greatest, heir apparent of the Empire throne. Chicken collaborates with Hakeem musically throughout the show and was the DJ for Hakeem’s premiere at the opening of New York’s City hottest nightclub, Leviticus, during the climax of Empire’s second episode. She is also set to be in season two.

Empire‘s Season 2 premiere is being written by executive producers Danny Strong and The L word’s Ilene Chaiken.

It’s Official – The X-Files is Returning to Our TV Screens with David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson at the Helm

It’s official – No more government cover-ups or cigarette smoking men – The X-Files is returning to TV – hurrah!

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13 years after its original run, The X-Files is coming back, with FOX ordering a six-episode ‘event series’ that will see Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate new supernatural mysteries.

Expected to arrive in 2015, the series will be helmed by original X-Files writer Chris Carter.

“I think of it as a 13-year commercial break. The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.”

Originally premiering in 1993, The X-Files won 16 Emmys and five Golden Globes, with its creepier episodes (e.g season 4’s ‘Home’ *shudder*) still being talked about to this day.

A return for the show has been mooted for a while and rumours resurfaced earlier this week.

Duchovny previously said he was “f*cking overjoyed” at the idea.

FOX CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden said,

“We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers – and we couldn’t be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again.

The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning. Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files, and we’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they’ve been waiting for.

No premiere date has been announced, but production will begin this summer.

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AzMarie Livingston Gets a Part on Ilene Chaiken’s New Project Empire

AzMarie Livingston is not a novice when it comes to acting. She her first acting role was in DTLA as Melanie Griffith‘s girlfriend.

Now she’s working on her next big acting break role on Fox’s upcoming hip hop drama ‘Empire’.

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With Out Academy Award nominee, director Lee Daniels (‘Precious’ and ‘The Butler’), Emmy Award winner Danny Strong leading, along with show-runner Ilene Chaiken behind the project, there is a strong LGBT essence to this project.

And it has been hinted that AzMarie will be playing someone queer. Her character is named ‘Chicken’.

Empire is described as “… a sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne.”

The all-star cast includes Terrence Howard as the king of hip-hop, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett (playing Howard’s the gay son) and Gabourey Sidibe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96Cjx0vfFo

Empire won’t air until 2015, but we’re excited to see what this great team comes up with.