Talks still going on about the scene where he called President Barack Obama a Sell-Out

Taraji P. Henson, one of the stars of the new Fox drama Empire, gave an interview for the February 9 edition of Time magazine. She plays Cookie, the “fiery matriarch” at a hip-hop record company. Time asked, “What are people upset about?” Henson said “Barack Obama.”
Time replied, “You mean the scene in which one of Cookie’s sons calls Obama a sellout during a drunken rant?” Henson explained: “It was to prove a point about how reckless young kids are nowadays. Some of them are out of control! They don’t understand hard work, what it took for that man to get in office. But people get so offended. It’s art, baby!” [Italics in the original.]

"The most surprising thing I did was dissing the president," said Gray, referring to the scene in last week's episode in which Hakeem goes on an on-camera rant in a restaurant and insults Obama in a video that quickly goes viral. (In a later scene, Howard's character is seen calling Obama to apologize. It's the second time in the show's first two weeks that "Empire" has name-checked the president.) "We have a great relationship, Obama and the Obama Foundation, and it was challenging, you know. It just shows you the type of guy Hakeem is," he said.
He's met the president? "Yes. He's a great guy, humble." Did he know Obama know he was going to be mentioned that way? "He might have been watching. He might be a fan of 'Empire.' I mean, if he was -- he will know, but -- I hope he understands it was coming from Hakeem," not Bryshere, Gray said. "It's the role, it's acting. Denzel [Washington], he plays villains sometimes, you know?"

Hakeem (Bryshere Gray), the youngest and wildest son of the musical Lyon dynasty, is recorded on camera drunkenly insulting President Obama—a friend of his father, Lucious, played by Terrence Howard—in front of a stunned crowd of mostly white patrons dining at a “fine establishment.” He then accuses said patrons of voting for the first black president solely out of white liberal guilt. Oh, and Obama is called a “sell-out.” Twice.
It’s a bizarre, though not unrealistic, scene, and it’s one that makes me grateful that Daniels—who has co-written 12 episodes, in addition to directing the first two—has brought his brazenness to the small screen at this moment. Whatever your own thoughts about our current president, it’s safe to say that much of Hollywood has played it safe when it comes to depicting Obama.
Harris compared it to ABC's Scandal, where creator Shonda Rhimes made her fictional president white, so no one would ever confuse his affair with the show's central character Olivia Pope or his other naughty behavior with the current black president. Harris continued:
Having a black character openly criticize Obama—at one point, a friend of Hakeem’s says, “That brother ain’t even half of a brother, anyway”—is another way to bring a different point of view, and help break down stereotypes about black people’s supposedly blind allegiance to the president. It’s a sassy counter to the funny, and increasingly ridiculous, recurring SNL sketch, “How’s He Doing.” And to have real equality, the first black president should be criticized just like every other president before him.
But in true Daniels style, Hakeem’s outburst is complicated. Hakeem’s drunken, at times nonsensical, braggadocio, delivered in front of rich white folks, could be seen as a “shame” to his race, making the rest of us black folks “look bad.” Even Lucious’ ex-wife, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), chastises him for allowing their son to play a concert after the controversy. “You’re a horrible parent,” she says. “How do you let that boy talk all that trash about Barack Obama, and still let him perform?”

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