Taraji P. Henson is speaking out about unequal pay for Black women in Hollywood, and a clip of the actress saying she fired her entire team for not capitalizing on her “Empire” success is making the rounds on social media.
During a SAG-AFTRA Foundation interview on Dec. 19, Henson said she was forced to fire her entire team for failing her after she starred as Cookie Lyon in the drama about the family of music mogul Lucious Lyon, played by Terrence Howard. According to Forbes, the series was the “most valuable show” on television, having earned $125.5 million in ad revenue in 2016. The drama aired from 2015 until 2020, and Henson accused her team of not getting her more roles and endorsements.
Henson was asked what her best business move has been as an actress, and she did not mince words when she announced she’d fired her entire team for their failures.
“Firing everybody after Cookie,” she said. “Everybody had to f—kin’ go. Where is my deal? Where’s my commercial? Cookie was at the top of the fashion game. Where is my endorsement? What did you have set up for after this? That’s why you all haven’t seen me in so long. They had nothing set up.”
Henson went on to say her team wanted her to star in another Cookie show, but she wasn’t opposed to it if it was done right.
“All they wanted was another Cookie show, and I said, ‘I’ll do it, but it has to be right. The people deserve, she’s too beloved for y’all to f—k it up.’ And so, when they didn’t get it right, I was like, ‘Well, that’s it,’ and they had nothing else. ‘You’re all f—kin’ fired.”
Henson added that it took her a while to get to that point because she suffered from “Stockholm syndrome.”
Henson also broke down in tears while discussing unequal pay during an interview with Gayle King and the cast of “The Color Purple” remake. The interview also aired on Dec. 19 on SiriusXM, and the 53-year-old actress began to cry after King asked her if she was considering quitting acting.
“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t math-ing. And when you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone… It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”
“So, when you hear someone go, ‘Such and such made $10 million,’ that didn’t make it to their account,” Henson continued. “Off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50 percent. OK, so do the math. Now have $5 million. Your team is getting 30 percent off what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now, do the math. So, I’m only human. Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m just tired. I’m tired. I’m tired.”
“It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me,” she said as she motioned to co-star Danielle Brooks, who plays Sophia in the remake. “Then what the f—k am I doing? I’m sorry.”
Henson added that she constantly hears executives say Black stories don’t translate overseas and said she was “tired” of hearing it.
“Twenty-plus years in the game, and I hear the same thing, and I see what you do for another production but when it’s time to go to bat, they don’t have enough money. They play in your face,” she said. “And I’m just supposed to smile and grin and bear it. Enough is enough! That’s why I have other things … because this industry if you let it, it will steal your soul. I refuse to let that happen.”
Henson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in 2008 film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. According to People magazine, she noted in her book “Around the Way Girl” that she was paid “the equivalent of sofa change” in the lowest six-figure range compared to her co-stars. She also said that she had to pay for her own hotel bill while filming.
