We’ve heard arguments both for and against FOX’s Empire, but now PBS host Tavis Smiley is sharing his thoughts on the hit show — and they’re not good.
In an interview with Larry King airing Tuesday, the political commentator said Empire arguably only shows “the worst” in black people.
“There is a debate in the black community that hasn’t really surfaced, hasn’t really boiled to the top yet, but I hear it in barber shops and other places,” Smiley says, “that whether the problem with Empire is that it advances the worst of every pathology that black people have – crime and drug dealing and this and that and the other. A lot of people are looking for positive characters that may come out in the second season. But the first season everybody is ahhh!“
Larry King then compared the criticism to Italian American politician Mario Cuomo “hating The Godfather,” that the film was “too well done.” Smiley replies, “Exactly.”
Which side of the debate are you on? Do you think Empire highlights the ‘worst’ of the black community?
[via EW]
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