The Empire star has been married to Hispanic actress Sophia Adella Luke since 1998, but he has repeatedly faced backlash over his love life from some members of the African-American community, who believe men and women should date within their own race.

Luke recently encountered hateful comments about his marriage after sharing snaps of the happy couple on social media, and he decided to tackle the issue publicly by posting a lengthy note on his Instagram.com page.

Alongside a photo of the pair, he writes, "I never usually entertain the opinions of others because everyone is entitled to they're own opinion. (Positive or Negative) But we're in the year of 2015 & when should it be a 'problem' to date outside of your race? Why is that an issue AGAIN? I'm doing the unusual & going through my comments & the comments I see about my wife being another race is bugging me out (annoying me).

"Who one chooses to date is that persons (sic) business. Instead of focusing on (Happiness) & (pure Love) for some reason some folks are still focused on (Color). Doesn't make any sense to me. But I guess that's the ignorance of OTHERS.

"My wife may not be Black but she is mine. And she's mine with a heart of gold. People are so quick to judge but can't even distinguish the difference of another's race. Sophia Luke is Hispanic. She's not white, she's not black, she's not Chinese, she's Hispanic. And she's mine!!"