Empire, Fox TV’s hip hop soap opera, bombed in Europe where viewers refused to embrace Hollywood’s Gay Agenda.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ratings of Empire‘s debut season on the UK’s youth-oriented E4 Network Channel averaged a mere 717,000 viewers.
Ratings for season 2 were even worse, averaging a 2.2 percent share with 595,000 viewers in the United Kingdom.
Empire proved to be a global flop as well. On Australia’s Channel 10, Empire averaged just 77,000 viewers an episode.
In Canada, where bisexual rapper Drake is from, Empire‘s season 2 ratings dipped to just 208,000 viewers, triggering rising complaints among foreign networks that purchased the rights to Fox’s gay-themed program.
“I love the show and we took a big risk on it. But our courage was not rewarded,” said Rudiger Boss, of ProSiebenSat.1, which bought Empire for German TV.
Marion Edwards, president of international TV at Fox, said he warned his American Fox TV counterparts that having an all-gay black cast would not be welcomed favorably in German TV.
“We are telling our units that they need to be aware that by creating too much diversity in the leads in their show means … problems having their shows translating to the international market,” Edwards said.
By contrast, Edwards points out the European success of American shows with all-black heterosexual casts such as Black-ish and Cosby, which he says “broke all the rules of international television.”
“Those shows and the success of the original Roots mini-series proved there is an interest in black stories abroad,” says Timothy Havens, a professor in African-American studies.
Photo: FayesVision/WENN.com
