Luenell: It wasn’t planned at all. I went on because she asked me if I would be so kind as to do a couple of episodes. I was like sure, it’s television, and it’s OWN. I love Joshua. He’s a great boy. I don’t even do boys. Little boys are nasty, they jump around, break shit, and I can’t take it (laughing). He is a great kid. I think the storyline is beautiful with what he brought to her life. I fully support that show. Once I did it, the executives wanted to see me a little bit more. It was lots of fun.
Urban Grandstand Digital: It’s good to see people out here who support each other. You support her, and she supports you, and you just don’t see that a lot. There’s so many people who watch now because you’re there, and the show was already doing phenomenally.
Luenell: Sure it was, and it will continue to do well. All this reality stuff that we secretly do like to watch, even though it’s ratchet, it’s so detrimental to our race and our brand. I deal with sisters everyday, and they ain’t threw no glass at me or tried to pull my weave out. They [producers] put people together who aren’t friends in real life and want you to go into these situations and evoke this ratchet behavior. People like La La had the reality show and nobody gets beat down. Kym's got a show, Welcome to Sweetie Pies’ is out and nobody gets beat down. There’s a lot of good stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with dragging each other by the hair through the damn streets. It’s got to be starting to get old pretty soon. The hoes are really winning right now (laughing). They get perfume contracts, shoe contracts, and bags. It’s really disheartening for those of us who work at our craft and would like to get paid as well, but you can see ratchet, plastic silicone fake trying to be, no pride in themselves women on television and they’re making money. That hurts.
Urban Grandstand Digital: I’m happy to hear you say that. Obviously, there’s a lot that we don’t cover in our pages and on our site, but it’s good to hear someone who feels the same.
Luenell: It’s a lot of people who feel that way. It’s not to say we don’t sneak and watch it, which is where the double entendre comes in, because if you watch it they get the numbers, and if they get the numbers they continue to put it on. The only way to make it stop it is to not watch. The only way to not watch is for there to be other quality programming. We have to get behind the camera. We need more of y’all to stop trying to be on camera and get behind the camera. Empire didn’t write itself, somebody had to write it. and it doesn’t shoot itself. Somebody has to shoot it. We need people to do that, and we need people of color.
Urban Grandstand Digital: So my team and I will be out to kick it with you at the Improv tomorrow.
Luenell: Amazing! Wonderful!
Urban Grandstand Digital: What can we expect from you with this week's shows? Without you giving away too much…
Luenell: I could never give away what you will see (laughing). I would say to expect to see a sister who is working, grinding, and baring her soul! I don’t write jokes. I don’t know how to sit down and write things to be funny. I tell you anecdotes from my life that are relatable. You will know a lot more about me and the things I go through. I talk about things that cross the color lines, whether you’re gay, straight, or whether you’re black, white, or brown. Everybody has kids trying to go to college. Everybody has financial problems. Everybody is trying to have the best sex. Everybody deals with eating and weight. I’ll be talking about all the stuff that everybody can relate to. I think I’m one of the baddest that ever did it. When you finish listening to me, you’ll think you’ve been in the room with your best friend for an hour.