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

[sandstorm]

Your team is supposed to get your name in people's mouths, collaborate, network, all that nonsense...so yeah, they weren't doing their jobs for her. It wasn't going to be the biggest most lucrative deal but she should have had something.

[primimproper]

People with no other talent but their ass and Princess Jasmine face make it into billions… Taraji definitely had dead weight.

[bakemonos]

Why couldn't it have been a big, lucrative deal? Taraji is right on the money with saying that there were multiple opportunities for fashion house contracts, hell anything really.

[sandstorm]

You're right. My first thought was "Well if they're aiming for a fashion house, the biggest ones are already racist or going after someone in their 20s with no charisma instead of a talented person", and I should have worded that in a way that didn't diminish what she deserves

[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

[genbu_no_miko24]

I imagine her team should've been capitalizing when she won the Golden Globe, that would've been opportune time to do that.

[setsuna16]

I would have loved more Cookie. I miss her.

[distant_lines]

I need to know what's going on with her and Oprah. She looks so sad during all of the press stuff. I just feel awful for her. Team Taraji!

[britneyspears]

omg same, i usually ignore “body language experts” and that BS but something is for sure up 👀

[distant_lines]

Yes! Especially because she really does look like she's near tears in some videos. That goes beyond body language to me. And add to it that Oprah is just not great, and it all adds up to something having gone down.

[genbu_no_miko24]

Some people are bringing up Mo'nique's previous issues with Oprah and Tyler Perry regarding money. So I think Taraji highlighting the low pay for Black actors has people looking at Oprah because as one of the producers (and she's a billionaire lool) as like "uhh aren't you gonna help???".

Although I think Taraji did a post on IG trying to say there's no ill will between her and Oprah so who knows 👀.