Taraji P. Henson is fed up with 50 Cent criticizing her hit Fox series Empire.
Since Empire debuted in 2015, the rapper has bashed the music drama and claimed it borrowed from his Starz crime drama Power.
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Henson recently sat down with T.I. for an episode of his Expeditiously podcast “Shooting The Sh-t.” In a clip shared by T.I. on Instagram, Henson said she’s had enough of 50 Cent’s trolling.
“Our show has nothing to do with his show,” she said. “We’re talking two different subject matters. Then again 50, do you know what the f–k I had to do to get here? Why tear down another black person? For competition? There are a million other shows you can compete with. To do that publicly? It’s embarrassing.”
Henson’s other acting credits include Hustle & Flow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hidden Figures, and several Tyler Perry films. Despite winning a Screen Actors Guild award, several Image Awards, a Golden Globe and receiving an Oscar nomination, she said she’s still “grinding.”
“It’s just hard for black women period. I don’t care what business you’re in, it’s just really hard,” Henson stated.
“I work a lot, right. You wanna know why? Because I have to. I’m not getting paid all that money,” she continued. “Other actresses, who are not black, they make more money. That’s why they have the privilege of doing maybe, one or two projects a year, or maybe sometimes you’ll see them one time a year, because they’re paid. But I gotta hustle. You see actors like me, Viola [Davis], Octavia [Spencer] working, we’re grinding because we’re not making the money.”
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Henson said she has a lot of financial obligations and people she has to pay.
“I wish I could do one f–king movie and make $20 million, or ten. If I could just make $10 million on one flick, I’m chillin’ the rest of the year, but I have to work like this,” she said.
Check out the full interview here.
