Lee Daniels on F-bomb: Just 'having fun'

Don't mess with Lee Daniels' Empire.

The Fox series creator sent a strongly worded message to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences after his freshman hit show was snubbed for a best drama Emmy nomination on Thursday.

"(Expletive) these mother----," Daniels said in a video posted to his Instagram account.

But it may have been all in good fun. As Daniels lets loose, Empire's Jussie Smollett laughs standing next to his boss in the video (which can be seen here, but warning, there is explicit language). "You have to be nice!" protests Smollett.

Daniels seemed happy to shrug off the Emmys campaigning. He tagged his video: "#canfinallypostthis #timetoberealagain #emmyniceguyoverwith."

Terrence Howard, who plays Lucius Lyon on Empire, was snubbed, too, but there was a silver lining: Taraji P. Henson, who has scored legions of fans playing Cookie on the show, scored a nomination for best actress in a drama series.

She took to Instagram in a decidedly more PG fashion, thanking her #CookieMonsters.

Update: On Thursday night, Daniels had a new message for onlookers: #ShutUpHaters.

"Some of these people got nothing else better to do than hate on me for having fun. I was having fun," he said in a new Instagram video. "I love the Emmys, and I'm excited for my cast and crew that got nominated and for the other people that got nominated for Emmys. So haters, shut up and go to bed."