Terrence Howard likes to speak his mind. The actor has been critical of people and organizations he's interacted with in the past if he feels they've slighted him, and the Creative Artists Agency is his latest target. Howard is suing the CAA over salary disputes made during his time on the hit TV series Empire. Despite the show's cultural impact, the actor told Straight Talk that he was given misleading information by the Hollywood organization. Information that led to him being seriously underpaid for years.
Howard was paid $325K per episode of Empire. It sounds like very good money, but the actor claimed that Empire was drawing more viewers than The Big Bang Theory during its peak. The correlation? Well, the cast members of The Big Bang Theory were making a whopping $2-3 million per episode. Howard told Straight Talk that he's owed $120 million because of a package deal that CAA had with Fox. Things got even worse when Howard tried to rectify the situation with the organization. After demanding he be paid what he's owed, the actor was sent a check for a measly $666. That check proved to be the last straw.
Terrence Howard Claims To Be Owed $120 Million
"$666 dollars exactly and not saying where it’s from so I was like oh y’all trying to threaten me," Howard theorized. "This is a threat right here, do y’all think I am scared? Do y’all think I’m going to be quiet about this? Because I wonder what you’re doing to every other black artist." The actor claimed that his primary motivator while appearing on Empire was to make money, and now that he's owed a substantial amount, he wants to retire from Hollywood altogether. "I want my money so I don’t have to work," he explained. "That’s the whole point of working. I wanted to retire so I can do what I gotta do."
Howard's Straight Talk interview went viral on social media shortly after its release. Many emphasized with the actor not being compensated, but a lot of the attention went to his appearance. In what can only be described as a bold fashion move, Howard detailed his legal troubles while wearing a butterfly collar suit and a feathered wig. Some users claimed the actor was dressing in an outlandish fashion to draw attention to his cause, while others simply found it amusing that he looked like a member of Charlie's Angels. Regardless, Howard is committed to his cause.