On approaching the podium last night at the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia-born Lee Daniels announced, “I’m here tonight because the next President of the United States invited me” — but the Empire co-creator, exec producer and director expressed that he’d initially felt concern that she didn’t know who he truly was — as in, that she didn’t know the fact that so many of his family members have been incarcerated, put under house arrest, or killed — like his father (who was a policeman) — by gun violence. Implying that he believes firmly that she’ll fight to protect black lives and heighten gun control, he said that the answer to his question of whether she “knows” him “hit [him] like a ton of bricks.”
He thereafter focused his speech on gun violence, noting that around 33,000 Americans die per year from firearms, and emphasized that this is the “most important election of our lifetime,” given the threat of the alternative.
Watch the speech: