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Videos online are still surfacing of Taraji P. Henson getting emotional about unequal pay for black women in Hollywood and how she had to fire her entire team for not capitalizing on her “Empire” success.
As we previously reported, during a SAG-AFTRA Foundation interview on Dec. 19, Henson explained how she had to cut ties from her team after playing the role of Cookie Lyon in the hit tv drama “Empire.” According to Forbes, the series was the “most valuable show” on television, bringing in $125.5 million in ad revenue in 2016. The drama aired from 2015 until 2020, and Henson slammed her team of not getting her more roles and endorsements. “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 shared.
In the same interview she also revealed that her team wanted her to do a spin off show Cookie Lyon but she wasn’t feeling it if it wasn’t going to be done correctly. “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.”
After hearing the news about how her team was slacking. 50 Cent jumped in on the conversation and was seemingly shocked that her team would drop the ball like that. In a new Instagram post on Tuesday, 50 said, “They dropped the ball f*ck em Taraji P. Henson I’m ready to work let’s get it!”
Now Taraji has made it loud and clear that’s she’s tired of this unequal pay. So whatever next movie or show she lands producers will have no choice but to remember these viral videos. During her emotional speech about how black women are paid the actor can be heard saying, “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.”
