‘Empire’ speaks to racial divide

THE cast of Fox hit “Empire” took over Carnegie Hall Saturday night — and cocreator Lee Daniels said the show comes at an important time in America’s race relations. “Where we are in America with race relations is an ugly place,” Daniels told a packed house. “It’s time we tear the roof off this motherf ker! It’s time we see that we are all one.” After screening the anticipated first episodes of Season 2, Daniels took to the stage with cast members, including Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, , show cocreator Danny Strong and exec producer Brian Grazer. Daniels also praised Fox: “[To] put black people on TV is changing the face of television he said, adding of the network’s view of the script, “They don’t necessarily agree with what we put onscreen, but there is a trust. They trust that we’re going to deliver for them.” Henson added of her iconic character, “‘You can judge (Cookie), you can say whatever you want about her, about Lucious . . . they broke a cycle of poverty and anybody that’sth from the hood knows that that is very hard to do . . . (Lucious and Cookie) are heroes in a very American way.” Later cast members Jussie Smollett,Smolle Gabourey Sidibe and Grace Gealey joined a starry afterparty attended by Naomi Camp Campbell and Courtney Love, who both make important cameos on the show, as well as Mariah Carey and Marisa Tomei. “Empire” Season 2 premieres Sept. 23 on Fox.