Taraji P. Henson Fired Her Entire Team For Not Capitalizing On The Success Of Her 'Empire'

[just444]

Taraji P. Henson Says She Fired Her Entire Team For Not Capitalizing On The Success Of Her 'Empire' Character https://t.co/HNhgJEMaq5
- Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 26, 2023

source

during a SAG-AFTRA event Taraji revelaed her best business move:

“Firing everybody after Cookie. Everybody had to f-kin’ go. Where is my deal? Where’s my

Comments

[waxandstrings]

i feel like she was everywhere during the height of empire, but the show went on for so long and lost so much steam and nobody was watching it by the end, so the attention/press on her was less, which tends to be the cast at the end of long running shows, which always sucks for actors, especially young ones on teen shows, who might have lost their chance to fully capitalize on their fame

but she's had such a long and steady career, someone of her caliber should not have faded from the lime light after the show if it wasn't by choice. nobody was really paying attention to scandal by the end, but kerry washington has had pretty steady success since in a lot of areas

[dull_and_wicked]

the show went on for so long and lost so much steam and nobody was watching it by the end

there's a reason why the breakout "star" on most shows takes top billing for 3-4 seasons max then bails while they're still hot so they can move on to bigger and better things. even the way she talks about her character here...she should have asked to gotten killed off and freed up her schedule to makes some moves rather than staying until the end imo

[waxandstrings]

i was gonna say that it can depend, because a lot of times the people that leave successful shows early end up doing nothing much either - mischa barton, chad michael murray/hilarie burton, crystal reed, nina dobrev - so it can depend, at least in you're not well known going in, i definitely think taraji was successful enough to have left and made it work, but i'm not sure empire would have let her out of her contract easily since she was their biggest draw

[dull_and_wicked]

the difference is that taraji had worked with john singleton, david fincher, tom hanks etc *before* empire. even though empire raised her name recognition/overall profile with certain people, arguably her "best" work was all before the show even happened which is the saddest part

[waxandstrings]

yeah, that's why i said she was successful enough to have made it work but might not have been able to because of network contracts. some shows will let cast members out of them, but i don't imagine empire would have been super willing to let their biggest draw go early, especially when factoring in jussie leaving too

[genbu_no_miko24]

It really does depend cause sometimes staying pays off. I thinking the Friends, Big Bang Theory, and Ellen Pompeo's on Greys all benefitted financially in ways that I don't think are easily repeated in this current TV era.

And then other cases like you mentioned leaving early did not pay off in terms of career like David Caruso.

[heyignatzmouse]

kaley cuoco used that bbt money to cast herself in everything.
it was v smart.

[genbu_no_miko24]

Yeah all her shows and career decisions post-BBT have been very successful for her!

[genbu_no_miko24]

Plus I think Jussie's antics inadvertently caused some negative attention.

[waxandstrings]

for sure, and from what i remember, she herself has said some dumb things that brought negative attention, but for the life of me, i can't remember exactly what.

[itsallnotone]

She did some whataboutism when #MuteRKelly was trending and asked if Harvey Weinstein was being muted too?? Very dumb stuff: https://x.com/aprettypr/status/1087785453879742464?s=46&t=uG-ZegUoP5YYvvZioBkT-Q

I haven’t looked at her the same since then, but yeah, it’s a shame that her team failed her