‘Utterly Meritless’: Terrence Howard’s Ex-Agents Slams Actor’s Lawsuit Over Claims He Was Unpaid On ‘Empire’ Due to Racist Bias
Feb. 8 2024, Published 11:54 a.m. ET
Terrence Howard’s former agents fired back at the actor’s claim he should have been paid substantially more during his time on Empire.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) asked the court to dismiss the bombshell lawsuit brought by Howard.
Back in December, Howard sued his ex-agency for breach of fiduciary duty.
In his lawsuit, Howard claimed his agents were not looking out for his best interest when it came to his salary on Empire.
Howard played Lucious Lyon on the Fox drama for six seasons. The show was produced by 20th Century Fox TV.
In his lawsuit, Howard claimed his agents not only represented him, but they represented producers Lee Daniels and Danny Strong in a “package deal” that made CAA a ton of money.
Howard said that the agency had a “profit participation stake” through the package. He claimed CAA was interested in making sure the show made the most profit possible.
As a result, he said they were not looking out for him when it came to pushing for a higher salary for him. He argued they were not interested because it would decrease their profit.
The practice of agencies being paid packaging fees was banned in 2020.
Howard claimed CAA did not share details of the packaging deal with him during the time.
In his filing, Howard pointed out that he was paid substantially less than House of Cards star Kevin Spacey or Mad Men star Jon Hamm – despite Empire bringing in more viewers than both shows. Howard was initially paid $125k per episode but it rose to $325k per episode over time. Howard believed the $325k per episode was well below his white counterparts.
“Not only did it become abundantly clear that his agents led him on a path to rely on information that was misleading, he discovered that this was the result of the fact that CAA was not acting in his best interest, but in the in the interest of their own financial benefit as well as the interest of the Production Companies and the producers, Daniels and Strong,” the complaint read.
Now, in a newly filed response, CAA argued, “Howard filed his Complaint … asserting claims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty premised on CAA’s alleged role as a “packaging agent” on the television show Empire in December 2023—over nine years after Howard admits that CAA explicitly told him it was acting as the show’s packaging agent, seven years after Howard admits he suspected the alleged injury of which he now complains (i.e., that he was not paid enough), and more than four years after the highly publicized Writers Guild of America’s packaging lawsuit was filed against CAA (and other agencies), which Howard quotes in his Complaint.”
They added, “Howard’s claims are utterly meritless.” The agency said the claims are also barred by the statute of limitations.
CAA demanded the entire case be tossed immediately.
At a press conference following the lawsuit being filed, Howard claimed the matter was a “racial issue.”
“I can’t say for certain this was a racial issue, but I can’t imagine another counterpart – a white counterpart – with the same accolades, name recognition, and numbers that I had, receiving the lowball pay that I was receiving,” he told Rolling Stone. “I drank the Kool-Aid. I believed that I was going to get paid, or that I was getting compensated properly, but I wasn’t. I just didn’t want to p--- off CAA and Fox. They’re big companies to go to war against. But sooner or later you’ve got to stand up, because they’re just trampling over the rights of the artists.”
As RadarOnline.com first reported, Terrence was involved in another legal battle over a separate project in 2022.