I wanted to call this Empire: Forwarding The Gay Agenda. The gay agenda is something I always thought of as a stupid phrase. But, I just couldn't figure out what else to call it in this situation. I didn't even know Lee Daniels was gay because I just don't care enough to look up his personal life. I think it's great he brought attention to homophobia in the black community. I thought it was great that he brought attention to the lack of support for mental illness in the black community. I had no idea the flashbacks of Jamal's past were based on Lee Daniels own past. I had no idea his father threw him in the trashcan, that really sucks. I was all for Jamal's side story and overcoming that until the last two episodes. Everyone went from calling Jamal a faggot to a strong homosexual man over night. But, he still had to struggle with people like Black Rambo. I thought it was great that Lee Daniels pointed out that there's always going to be someone who disagrees with it.
During the finale Jamal entered a rap battle and sang "Your sin is no better than mine." You're right. That's great, but here's the problem. You did make Jamal's "sin" bigger than mine. See, we worked hard for this resolution to Jamal being gay. We showed that there's always going to be a struggle with some people. But, what about Andre?
Andre is bipolar, and we also dealt with the lack of support for mental illness in the black community, but we dealt with it all wrong. They put Jamal on a pedestal for overcoming being gay but Andre, he's got no lasting problem with being bipolar. Andre no longer struggles with being bipolar. Why is that? Because they prayed it away.
Andre starts to pray and through a miracle he's cured. He never has any other symptoms of being bipolar. He doesn't need any medication and he's perfectly okay. So I ask you, if you can't pray away being gay, why do you think you pray away being bipolar? You had Jamal singing "Your sin is no better than mine" but you made sure Jamal's more better.
I get it, Lee Daniels is gay and he really wants to bring attention to that. But, in the process he undermines other issues. Now people are going to be telling their family members "just pray the bipolar away." We got the conclusion of Lucious and Jamal coming to terms and having that heart to heart. Yet, we're supposed to believe nobody has a problem with Andre anymore.
I mean, thanks for bringing mental illness to the black community. Now there's more people who realize this is a serious problem. But, there's also people who think they can just pray it away. We don't tell people that they should seek help. We don't tell people that there are symptoms outside of random breaks. We don't tell people how or why they should find a mental health center. So here's to hoping we handle mental illness a little better in season two.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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