"Empire" cast members Trai Byers, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, directors Lee Daniels and Danny Strong take part in Fox Broadcasting Company's part of the TCA Winter 2015 presentations. (Photo : Reuters/Kevork Djansezian)
While the "Empire" season 2 premiere is still months away, Terrence Howard said the N-word should be used in the hit Fox drama series, which executive producer Danny Strong does not agree with.
At the ATX Festival in Austin, Texas on June 6, Strong told the "Empire" fans that unlike Howard, he does not think there is a need to use the N-word on the show because they are a network show and not on cable, where the N-word may be used.
"It's not a documentary on hip hop," Howard explained, as Entertainment Weekly quoted him saying. "It's a soap opera set in the hip-hop world and tells a heightened story, and that's why you're able to watch the show not notice there's no profanity."
According to Strong, "Empire" has to construct its own world where the lack of profanity still feels authentic despite the real music industry being saturated in profanity. He also pointed out that the debate over the issue on the use of the N-word has exclusively taken place in the press.
Strong said there are reports what Howard said and how Taraji P. Henson and his fellow "Empire" executive producer Lee Daniels respond. H said, "You have all these quotes. Guess how many discussions happened about this between us personally? Zero. It's just something Terence said."
When asked about the use of a certain gay slur on "Empire," in which Cookie threw Lucious homophobia back in his face, Strong said, "That was really important to Lee in particular, who's gay. But I agree, it was a great moment."
Meanwhile, Howard and Henson were featured in the cover of the Emmy Magazine, which was photographed by Mike Ruiz.
