The ‘Empire’ series that got the whole world buzzing had a little controversy to go with it.

The director, Lee Daniels has opened up on how he’s been the target of death threats because he ‘seems’ to promote homosexuality in his film.

The famous film maker recently spoke at the 7th annual Produced By conference in Los Angeles where he opened up about some of the intense push-back he’s received due to the show and story lines tackling homosexuality and homophobia.

Daniels admitted that Empire‘s depiction of a gay African-American man in the world of hip-hop generated intense hatred among some viewers.

“Homophobia is real. It exists. Jussie [Smollett] and I both get death threats,” Daniels said. However he says he is resolute in his decision to tackle social issues on the hit show., “We will continue to do our thing.”

On Empire, Smollett plays Jamal Lyon, son of hip-hop mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrance Howard), who has an adversarial relationship with his father because Jamal is gay.

The show’s highly anticipated 18-episode second season premieres Sept. 23 on Fox after it’s first wrapped up in March.