Tavis Smiley Suggests 'Empire' Shows The 'Worst' Of Black People

Tavis Smiley Suggests ‘Empire’ Shows ‘The Worst’ Images Of Black People

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PBS’s Tavis Smiley says Fox’s monster hit show Empire may not be showing the best images of Black

people on television. In fact, he suggests it may actually be showing only the worst.

In a clip from his upcoming interview on Larry King’s PoliticKING , the television host said he’s overheard conversations in barber shops and other community haunts about the problems with cultural representations among the characters, played by stars like Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

He says:

“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, [about] 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 ot people are looking for positive characters that may come out in the second season. But the first season everybody is ahhh!”

The interview airs April 7. Check out the video clip below:

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