‘Empire’ Co-Creator Lee Daniels Claims Working On The Show Was “Horrible”: “Absolutely The Worst Experience”

It turns out that Empire was not series co-creator Lee Daniels‘ Roman empire — in fact, it was quite the opposite.

The director and producer reflected on working on the FOX music drama while speaking with The Film Stage, and the revelation emerged after he explained that he “do[es]n’t like staying in the same lane just as a creative,” noting that he “really just wanted to be able to answer to suits” once he got into TV, per The Hollywood Reporter.

“All of my friends, they get notes and shit. And I’m like, ‘What is that like?!'” he recalled. “You know what I mean? Because every film of mine had been independent. All of my shit is independent. You know, my first movie was developed with drug money. Monster’s Ball. We won the first Black woman an Oscar.”

While highlighting that all of his films have been “independently financed,” he pointed out the pro of being able to “do [his] thing.” Ultimately, he told The Film Stage that he “only did Empire just so [he] could see what that experience was like,” leading him to deem it “horrible” and “absolutely the worst experience.”

“But guess what? Fucking that money, money, money!” he continued. “I was able to put my kids through college and shit. So that in itself was worth it.”

Starring Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, and Bryshere Y. Gray, Empire aired on FOX from 2015-2020. Since then, Daniels has worked on several other projects, including The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Our Kind of People, The Wonder Years and his latest, The Deliverance on Netflix.

Seasons 1-6 of Empire are streaming on Hulu.