While Fox's new show, Empire, is a certified hit, they may have experienced their first challenge, as a gay kissing scene between Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie's (Taraji P. Henson) son Jamal and his boyfriend caused ratings with a test audience to drop drastically.

Washington Post reporter Cecilia Kang spoke with the show's co-creator, Danny Strong, who admitted to her that the initial response to the show's gay couple making out on cam was anything but positive, and in fact was a huge turnoff for the show's predominantly African-American audience.

"The test audiences they showed this to...the ratings plummeted," she said. "They did not like that scene at all."

Kang also revealed that the show's creators don't regret leaving the scene in the show, as they aim to "push buttons" and deal with "real issues, rich topics that really resonate."

Check out pics of the show's stars above.

Source: HuffingtonPost