If you can get past the distraction of the wig Terrence Howard (who was on set) gave more details about his claims of inadequate pay against the Creative Arts Agency (CAA).
According to Vibe in an interview with Daphne Phaneē on Straight Talk, the 55-year-old actor, dressed in a grey suit and an orange, blown-out wig, discussed his experience. The interview was published last month.
“I had an issue at Fox and Disney because…the image that you see of us on Empire, profile, that came from a still shot from Hustle & Flow,” accused Howard. “They took that, flipped that, and put it on everything. They took the trademark of it, sold it around the world, didn’t ask my permission…That image is worth $100 million at least for how much money that they made from it. We got a forensic photographer to find the actual frame.”
“CAA, they represented me. They also represented some of the people from Big Bang Theory. They also did the deal with Fox. My show was with Fox, the people from Big Bang was with Fox. We had 28 million viewers. They had 11 million viewers. They were getting $2 million, damn near $3 million an episode. Those white kids…that had no name recognition, no Oscar nominations, none of that. We have 28 million viewers, and these jokers are paying me $325,000 an episode.”
“Every year, I’m asking my agents what’s going on … I didn’t know that the packaging deal… my agents were incentivized to keep my pay low,” ….. “They owe me over $120 million based on what would’ve been paid to white counterparts, so now I’m in the process of suing them.
When I asked about my money, they sent me a check for $666 dollars….666 exactly…So I was like, y’all trying to threaten me. This is a threat right here. And y’all think I’m scared? Y’all think I’m going to be quiet? Because I wonder what you’re doing to every other Black artist.”
The lawsuit was first announced in December 2023, acknowledging that Howard’s pay started at $125,000 and peaked at $325,000 per episode.
“Mr. Howard will be filing a lawsuit based upon the duties his agents simply failed, time and time again,” shared attorney James Bryant of the Cochran Law Firm, at the time.
“This is a man who was the lead actor to, once again, one of the most successful television shows in network history where Fox was making over $125 million a year in just ad revenue alone. This man was being underpaid time and time again.”
Watch below:
