Lee Daniels, the openly gay creator of
Fox's Empire, on Tuesday reacted to an attack on actor Jussie
Smollett.
Smollett, who is black and came out gay
in 2015, was attacked early Tuesday morning by two men wearing masks
in downtown Chicago. The men hurled racial and homophobic slurs and
told Smollett that he was in “MAGA country.”
(Related: Empire's
Jussie Smollett attacked in possible anti-gay hate crime.)
Smollett, 36, plays Jamal Lyon, a gay
character, on Empire.
“It’s taken me a minute to come to
social media about this because, Jussie, you are my son,” Daniels
said in a video posted on Instagram. “You didn’t deserve nor
anybody deserves to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach
thrown on you, to be called 'die faggot, nigger' or whatever they
said to you. You are better than that. We are better than that.
America is better than that. It starts at home. It starts at home,
yo.”
“We have to love each other
regardless of what sexual orientation we are because it shows we are
united on a united front and no racist fuck can come in and do the
things that they did to you. Hold your head up, Jussie. I’m with
you. I’ll be there in a minute. It’s just another fucking day in
America” Daniels added.
Daniels has previously said that his
father beat him because he was gay.
(Related: Lee
Daniels: My dad beat me because I'm gay.)