NEWS: “Empire” Ratings From Test Audience Plunged Following Gay Kiss Scene

“Empire” Ratings From Test Audience Plunged Following Gay Kiss Scene

“The test audiences they showed this to — the ratings plummeted," Cecilia Kang said regarding a same-sex kissing act on the show. "They did not like that scene at all."

During a recent conversation with HuffPost Live, Washington Post’s Entertainment Reporter Cecilia Kang spoke with the publication about Fox’s Hip Hop-themed show, Empire.

While discussing the show’s more rabble-rousing moments, Kang pointed to an early scene where the character of Jamal shared a same-sex kiss with his boyfriend, Michael. She subsequently recalled a discussion that she’d had with Empire’s co-creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong regarding the scene.

“One character that's quite interesting right now is Jamal and the storyline about homophobia in the African-American community which I think has been discussed quite a bit," Kang said. "It shows also a lot of daring by the show’s creators.

“I spoke to Danny Strong one of the creators along with Lee Daniels, and Danny had told me that actually the very first scene when Jamal was kissing his partner, the test audiences that they showed this to — the ratings plummeted," she added. "They did not like that scene at all. Danny was asked later what should we do about it and he said, ‘Absolutely nothing at all. Why should we take this off just because people are uncomfortable? We wanna push buttons with this show, we wanna deal with real issues.’”

Cecilia Kang's conversation with HuffPost Live can be viewed below:

'Empire' Test Audience Ratings Plummeted After Gay Kissing Scene

NEWS: "Empire" Breaks 23-Year TV Ratings Record

"Empire" Breaks 23-Year TV Ratings Record

Empire has already been picked up for a second season.

FOX's hit show Empire appears to be gaining new fans each week.

The Hip Hop-themed TV show has just broken a ratings record that is more than two decades old. According to Fox, Empire is the only primetime scripted series to grow in total viewers over each of its first five telecasts since at least 1991.

Entertainment Weekly has also reported that for the first two weeks with total DVR data available that Empire is averaging 14 million viewers and a 5.6 rating among adults 18-19.

ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire also achieved a similar feat through each of its first five telecasts in 1999, but the show was not considered a series at the time.

EW also states that the ratings record Empire just broke may have been in place longer than the 23 years Fox has publicized. Since Nielsen revised its measuring system 23 years ago, comparisons can only be calculated from that time period.

Empire has already been picked up for a second season and a slew of celebrities, Snoop Dogg among them, are expected to make cameos on upcoming episodes.

NEWS: Diddy Reportedly Won't Allow His Son To Appear In Fox's "Empire"

 Diddy Reportedly Won't Allow His Son To Appear In Fox's "Empire"

Diddy reportedly banned his son from being cast in the new TV show "Empire."

Fox's new TV show "Empire" is becoming increasingly popular with each new episode that airs. The TV show, which stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, centers around a hip-hop record label trying to go public, while dealing with various artists on the label. Thus, there's a lot of original music on the TV show (similar to "Glee"), much of which can be purchased on iTunes or streamed on Spotify following each episode. This is part of the issue that led Diddy to reportedly ban his son from appearing in Lee Daniels' show.

Quincy had reportedly been guaranteed a role in the show, but when Diddy learned that he had to sign over the rights to the music he did for the show to Fox, he pulled him out. According to Page Six's source, "Diddy kicked up a huge stink and called all the top brass at 20th Century Fox TV to get them to change their rules over music rights," but that didn't work. "He said there was no way his son was signing over his intellectual property. So he banned him from the show."

Apparently the show is still considering Quincy for a role in the second season, but Diddy would have to be lenient on the song rights.

NEWS: 50 Cent Accuses Fox’s ‘Empire’ Of Copying His ‘Power’ Marketing Scheme

50 Cent Accuses Fox’s ‘Empire’ Of Copying His ‘Power’ Marketing Scheme

POWER Season 2 is unbelievably good trust me. I have the best writers and show runner. I like Terrence howard and Taraji Henson. I don't like that They would copy the Marketing.#SMSAUDIO #FRIGO #POWERTV

 A video posted by 50 Cent (@50cent) on Dec 12, 2014 at 4:57pm PST

50 Cent has never been one to hold his tongue about anything he deemed worthy of speaking on (or making an Instagram video about). The latest issue the rap mogul is making noise about has to do with the forthcoming Fox drama Empire starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, which 50 claims is biting the marketing scheme of his popular Starz Network series Power. Fif recently took to Instagam to promo the forthcoming season of Power and used some characters to take a shot at Empire’s similar marketing plan. “POWER Season 2 is unbelievably good trust me. I have the best writers and show runner. I like Terrence howard and Taraji Henson. I don’t like that They would copy the Marketing,” he posted.

Power’s plot revolves around drug dealer James “Ghost” St. Patrick who tries to get out of the game by opening a posh nightclub. Empire tells the story of a hip-hop music mogul with family issues. The pilot episode of Empire will air Jan 7 while the second season of Power will air sometime in 2015. 

Check out Curtis’ remarks, above. And peep trailers for both shows and judge for yourself, below. 

[via 50Cent]

NEWS: Empire (Preview)

Empire (Preview)

A sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne. LUCIOUS LYON (Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”) is the king of hip-hop. An immensely talented artist, the CEO of Empire Entertainment and a former street thug, his reign has been unchallenged for years. But all that changes, when he learns he has a disease that is going to render him crippled and incapacitated in a matter of three years. The clock is ticking, and he must groom one of his three sons to take over his crowning achievement, without destroying his already fractured family.

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