A fascinating circular puzzle of logic: a woman has emerged with claims that the Fox smash Empire unlawfully modeled the character of the hot-tempered Cookie Lyon (played indelibly by Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson) after her, having, she claims, drawn inspiration from her memoir without giving due credit. It’s a serious and difficult-to-prove sort of claim, and yet, what could be more Cookie than claiming people are talking about you behind your back and threatening to sue their asses back to the Stone Age? In summoning the temerity to claim to be Cookie, does she not effectively become Cookie? Is existence itself not self-evident? We live in incredible times.
But seriously: Page Six has the exclusive that one Sophia Eggleston, former gangster and author of the autobiography The Hidden Hand, has filed papers indicating that Empire creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, along with 21st Century Fox, owe her “tens of millions of dollars” for infringing upon her intellectual property and generally jacking her swagger. Though the defendants have moved to dismiss the case from the courts, the woman who once served time for a manslaughter charge after ordering a hit on an enemy is confident that she’ll emerge victorious, because when would Cookie ever doubt herself. It is not yet known if Eggleston threw a drink in anyone’s face or slapped the defendants before concluding her statements.
Eggleston claims to have met with screenwriter Rita Miller at the latter’s California home in 2011, and Miller promised to relay the results of their meeting to Daniels. Eggleston’s suit outlines 23 specific points of commonality between Sophia and Cookie, including the fact that they both have gay sons, and share a predilection for flashy clothing, particularly feather boas. But hey, if appreciating the simple pleasures of a good feather boa is a crime now, then lock me up.
