Out actor Jussie Smollett said in a
recent radio interview that he did not want his Empire
character to have a white boyfriend.
The 36-year-old Smollett has received
rave reviews for his portrayal of musician Jamal Lyons on the Fox
drama Empire.
Appearing on SiriusXM's The Clay
Cane Show, Smollett said that it was important for viewers to see
a loving relationship between two black men.
“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,” Smollett said.
“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,” he
said.
Smollett went on to praise the film
Moonlight, which follows an African-American man who struggles
to come out gay over three periods of his life while growing up in a
rough neighborhood of Miami.
“It was just beautiful,” he said.
“It was also not about sexuality, it was actually about masculinity
and the rules that are put on little boys, specifically little black
boys, from the moment that they are born that we never really talk
about.”