Terrence Howard Accused Of Attempting To Extort Film Producers On Charity Project
Jan. 25 2022, Published 1:27 p.m. ET
Terrence Howard is being accused of screwing up the release of a film that was set to raise money for Cerebral Palsy.
According to court documents obtained by Radar, Howard’s former film partners are demanding an injunction against the actor ordering him to immediately cease and desist letters he fired off.
As we first reported, Howard and his wife Mira are being sued by a production companies named Map Group and Digital Ignition Entertainment.
Howard is accused of trying to shake down the producers on a project aiming to raise money for Cerebral Palsy.
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The suit explains Howard agreed to star in the producers’ 2021 film Triumph. The film was inspired by a “determined high school senior strives to be a wrestler one last time despite having cerebral palsy.” The film was released in April 2020 but only in a limited amount of theaters due to Howard’s threats.
The producers say Howard originally agreed to film for 7 days for 15% of the net profits with 5% donated to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation.
The producers accuse Howard of being a nightmare before production started. The suit described how the actor allegedly demanded $75k days before cameras were set to start rolling.
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Howard was paid the money to avoid the movie being derailed. The suit says a official deal memo was drafted for the remaining points but he refused to sign it.
The film was completed and ended up being licensed to a distributor. Around that time, Howard started firing off cease and desist letters to the distributor claiming they had no right to use his name of likeness. The legal letters attempted to block the release. Producers claim this cost them substantial damages.
The suit claims Howard attempted to block, “the release of Triumph to extort additional sums from the Plaintiffs.”
Howard allegedly demanded $675k to withdraw the cease-and-desist letters. “Not only was the Defendants’ new demand for essentially $675,000.00 unreasonable and without any contractual or legal basis, but also Triumph’s revenue was not and has not ever been even remotely close to the Defendants’ demanded amount, primarily due to the Defendants’ efforts to delay and/or halt the release of Triumph,” their motion read.
“The Defendants’ greedy actions halted the goodwill that Triumph would have produced by making unreasonable, baseless demands for a charitable project,” they added.
The producers are suing for unspecified damages. They believe Howard’s action cost them at least $1-2 million in damages.
In the newly filed motion, the producers claim, “The C&D Letters caused a significant loss of revenue from Cinemark and at least four (4) other theater chains and caused an unnecessary delay in the digital release of Triumph.”
They are demanding the court issue a preliminary injunction ordering Howard to withdraw his cease and desist letters and stop blocking the film’s release.