The Lucious Lyon depicter on the musical drama series claims in his lawsuit that the agency benefited other clients that it represented instead of him.
- Dec 10, 2023
AceShowbiz - Terrence Howard is not satisfied with his "Empire" salary so he has to sue CAA for it. The actor filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, December 8, claiming that he didn't get the salary he should've gotten.
"I trusted CAA to look after me, and they looked after themselves," the 54-year-old declared. He also claimed that the agency benefited other clients that it represented instead of him.
"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," the complaint read, "but in the in interest of their own financial benefit as well as the interest of the Production Companies and the producers, [Lee Daniels and Danny Strong]."
"Under normal circumstances, had CAA not been the packaging agent, and had CAA not been concurrently representing the Production Companies, where their sole financial interest would have been the 10% fee from the compensation received by Howard," it added, "they would have most certainly fought for Howard in a manner that most producers are accustomed to seeing CAA agents engage in."
Unhappy with the packaging fees, one of Howard's lawyers, James Bryant, stated, "Over the last several years, agencies have become much more powerful and found a much more lucrative way of making money." He added, "It's by being the packaging agent, where you represent actors, producers, production companies and your own financial interest. That's where that fiduciary duty begins to break down. That's why we're here today."
Of his pay, Howard said his deal afforded him $325,000 per episode "at the height of what I was being paid" in season six. He then explained, "I was never given a producer credit even though I rewrote most of the scenes and acted in the capacity of producer."
Howard is convinced that racism played a part in the agency's alleged refusal to negotiate in his best interest. He said he was underpaid by as much as 50 percent compared to top actors in hit series.
His lawyer Carlos Moore said of the matter, "Discovery will show that this was racism." Moore added, "You won't find in discovery that a white actor - Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-nominated - was treated like that."
