It appears Fox’s “Empire” is so huge that it even has two big fans in the White House.
Tuesday night during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Taraji P. Henson recalled a recent conversation she had with“Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels where he dished on his encounter with President Obama at September's state dinner in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Lee calls me and goes, ‘Oh my God, you're not going to believe this,’" Henson said to host Jimmy Kimmel. “'You know how you're in the line, and everyone wants to shake the president and the first lady's hand? As soon as I get over there, our president says to me, 'Now, you know, Lee, I would never call Lucious. He would call me.'"
Henson said the president’s comment was in reference to an episode from season one when Obama called Terrence Howard’s character, Lucious Lyon, to respond to Lyon's son calling the president a sellout. In addition to the commander in chief's brief conversation with Daniels, Henson went on to share the most exciting part of her exchange with him.
"And then [Daniels] moves down the line, and our first lady goes, 'Where is Taraji P. Henson? I want to see her. You have no idea how much I love Cookie.’ So I dropped the phone," she said in reference to Michelle Obama's comment.
This isn’t the first time FLOTUS’ appreciation for the popular hip-hop drama has been made public. Earlier this year, President Obama revealed to Dish Nation how much his wife adores “Empire.”
“Michelle is real big on ‘Empire.’ She’s gotten really into it,” he said to "Dish Nation" host Rickey Smiley. “I have frankly not had a chance to see it yet but I love the actors in it, so I’m hoping she’s DVRing it so I can take a look.”
Check out more of Taraji P. Henson’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” segment in the clip above.
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