The show's co-creator spoke out at a screening of the first episodes of season two, insisting more needs to be done to highlight the issue.

Daniels took to the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York on Saturday (12Sep15) with the show's stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, along with show co­-creator Danny Strong and executive producer Brian Grazer.

According to New York Post gossip column Page Six, he told guests, "Where we are in America with race relations is an ugly place. It's time we tear the roof off this motherf**ker! It's time we see that we are all one. To put black people on TV is changing the face of television."

Empire returns to U.S. TV on 23 September (15).