10 Things We Learned from Lee Daniels on The Breakfast Club

Lee Daniels is more than a decade in the game and while it he’s mostly known by today’s crowd for his hit TV series Empire, the writer/director/producer has quietly become one of the entertainment game’s heaviest hitters. Today the man behind critically acclaimed hits like Monster’s Ball and Precious swing through The Breakfast Club with his new protégé, play writer Jordan E. Cooper.

Touching a range of subjects from Jussie Smollett, being Black and gay and Dame Dash, Lee Daniels and Jordan E. Cooper got some deep thoughts to share with listeners.

Here are the 10 things we learned from Lee Daniels and Jordan E. Cooper on The Breakfast Club.

1. The Protégé

Lee Daniels says he took Jordan E. Cooper under his wing because he saw a play that Cooper wrote that was so moving that it “completely changed my life” and he “understood for the first time why it was that I was a Black man… not only a Black man but a gay Black man in America.” That’s pretty damn high praise.

2. From The Get

Cooper for his part says that he started writing at the age of 6-years-old and was inspired by Tyler Perry’s plays on DVD’s before Perry blew up. Eventually he started raising money so he could rent out theaters and showcase his stories.

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3. Word?

Lee Daniels admits that his first story was bankrolled by drug money. We not judging him for that though. It is what it is.

4. Man for The Job

Jordan confirms that he will be dressing in drag in his play Ain’t No Mo’ even though he wanted to give the role to a actor in need of a job. But Lee Daniels convinced him that the role couldn’t be in better hands.

5. Black & Gay

Cooper feels that people can’t say they love Black people and hate gay people “because then you’re excluding Blackness. You’re like doing the same thing they’re doing to us… You want a certain kind of Blackness. A Blackness that makes you comfortable.”

6. From The Get 2

Jordan remembers that as a kid for Christmas he didn’t want any videogames or toys, he just wanted box sets of TV shows that he could watch on repeat. Talk about investing in your future at a young age.

7. Jussie Smollett

Touching on the Jussie Smollett controversy, Lee Daniels says that he “cannot judge” and won’t say whether he believes him or not because he feels that his thoughts are “inconsequential.” Though he admits that the situation has “traumatized” the show and it’s cast, he does say that he’s “standing by him because regardless of the outcome I can’t discard someone, it’s like discarding my son.”

8. Dame Dash

Lee Daniels admits that he was “out of pocket” when it came to ducking Dame Dash and his $2 million debt to him saying his lawyers convinced him he didn’t have to pay Dame anything. Now that the situation is squashed and some amount was paid to Dash, Daniels admits he regrets his actions because Dame believed him when nobody in Hollywood would give him a chance. He hopes they work together in the future.

9. Mo’Nique

As for his old drama with Mo’Nique, Daniels says that he has nothing but compassion for her and was excited to see her in that commercial with Childish Gambino.

10. Suicidal Thoughts

ThoughtsLee Daniels and Jordan Cooper admit that they thought of suicide as children and it will be the basis for Cooper’s next play being that it’s a relative subject for him. “It just seemed a lot easier to not be a burden to anybody especially myself and especially being Black and queer. It’s like “Oh, this is not what God wants. Oh, this is not what your family wants. You’re not welcomed on this earth.”