--- title: Hillary Clinton: Empire Cast Endorses Candidate in New Ad description: Series creator Lee Daniels joined members of the cast in an ad endorsing Clinton, as part of her push to reach young voters. canonical: https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-06T01:00:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:31.565Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Empire' Cast Endorses Hillary Clinton in New Ad og:description: Series creator Lee Daniels joined members of the cast in an ad endorsing Clinton og:url: https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6614402e20cbba8/6988654a3c16397a8d459e83/empire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: empire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Empire' Cast Endorses Hillary Clinton in New Ad twitter:description: Series creator Lee Daniels joined members of the cast in an ad endorsing Clinton twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6614402e20cbba8/6988654a3c16397a8d459e83/empire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Empire_ Cast Endorses Hillary Clinton in New Ad > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=83c5b644-f6ba-4c8d-b17c-ec6d61805c61&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 6, 2016 1:00 AM UTC  EMPIRE: Cast Pictured L-R: (Bottom Row) Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Bryshere Gray as Hakeem Lyon and Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon (Top Row) Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon in EMPIRE. EMPIRE: Cast Pictured L-R: (Bottom Row) Trai Byers as Andre Lyon, Bryshere Gray as Hakeem Lyon and Jussie Smollett as Jamal Lyon (Top Row) Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon in EMPIRE. FOX by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 6, 2016 1:00 AM UTC The cast of the hit show _Empire_ voiced their support for Hillary Clinton Wednesday in [a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoLgsEMu1Y4&list=PLt9jO9QkAAoeF7SSQFHqPEyq2dqIA6hZD&index=1&spfreload=5) endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee. The minute-long spot finds the actors, all of whom are African-American, pondering the stakes of the 2016 election before offering Clinton their approval. “There’s only one person in this race who said Black Lives Matter,” says actor Bryshere Gray who plays Hakeem Lyon on the show. The TV and digital spot comes after the Clinton campaign said it was [spending $30 million](http://time.com/4498760/hillary-clinton-millennial-student-voters/) on digital advertising, in an effort to connect with younger voters. The ad was directed by[ _Empire_ creator Lee Daniels](http://time.com/3831610/lee-daniels-empire-mom-time-100/), who spoke highly of Clinton during [a speech](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/27/dnc-lee-daniels-speech) at July’s Democratic National Convention, calling on young voters to turn out at the polls for the “most important election of our lifetime.” Daniels again urged voters to go out and vote in Wednesday’s ad. “So many women and men died for us to have the right to vote,” he said. “Every time we sit out, we dishonor their sacrifices.” Other members of the Empire cast appearing in the ad include [Taraji P. Henson](http://motto.time.com/4518562/taraji-p-henson-domestic-abuse/), [Jussie Smollett](http://time.com/3737304/empire-jussie-smollett-comes-out/), Tasha Smith, Gabourey Sidibe, Trai Byers and Grace Byers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/"},"headline":"Empire Cast Endorses Hillary Clinton in New Ad","datePublished":"2016-10-06T01:00:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:31.565Z","description":"Series creator Lee Daniels joined members of the cast as part of Clinton's millennial voter outreach","url":"https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","celebrities","Endorsements","empire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6614402e20cbba8/6988654a3c16397a8d459e83/empire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6614402e20cbba8/6988654a3c16397a8d459e83/empire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"empire","caption":"EMPIRE","creditText":"FOX","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4520471/empire-hillary-clinton-ad-lee-daniels/","name":"Empire Cast Endorses Hillary Clinton in New Ad"}}]}] ```