Terrence Howard has claimed that he is still owed money for starring in the Oscar-nominated movie Hustle & Flow, despite it being released almost 20 years ago.
Appearing on Memphis’ WREG News Channel 3, Howard discussed how he has not seen royalties from the 2005 film, for which he was nominated for Best Actor at the 78th Academy Awards and also rapped on the soundtrack.
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“What Paramount did, instead of putting my name as ‘Terrence Howard’ performing the songs, they put ‘performed by Djay.’ Well, they owned Djay,” he said, referring to his character in the film.
“So now I’ve gotta sue Paramount or send them a letter to say, ‘Hey, you guys owe me about 20 years’ worth of residuals and performance royalties.'”
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Howard also revealed he was paid just $12,000 for the lead role in the film as a pimp who aspires to be a rapper. His role in the Oscar-winning Crash, he claimed, netted him half that.
“The business don’t pay actors anything — that’s why the strike is going on. Actors are struggling,” he lamented.
Hustle & Flow reportedly grossed $23.5 million against a production budget of $2.8 million. It yielded two Oscar nominations, with Three 6 Mafia winning Best Original Song while Howard lost out in the Best Actor category to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won for Capote.
The widely acclaimed film also starred Taraji P Henson, Ludacris, Anthony Anderson and Taryn Manning, and was most notable for Three 6 Mafia becoming the first rap group to win an Oscar.
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“It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” was just the second rap song to win Best Original Song at the Oscars following Eminem’s victory for “Lose Yourself” three years earlier.
Common is the only rapper to win the award since for his John Legend collaboration “Glory” from the 2014 Martin Luther King biopic Selma.
The Chicago native was also nominated again in 2017, while Kendrick Lamar is the only other rapper to be up for the prize after receiving a nomination for “All the Stars” from Black Panther.
Though he initially turned down the role, Hustle & Flow became Howard’s breakout performance and he has since starred in Iron Man, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and the hit TV show Empire.
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Following the end of Empire, Howard sued the producers of the show for using an image of him in Hustle & Flow on the musical drama, but it is not believed the suit went anywhere.
Empire also saw Howard reunite with his Hustle & Flow co-star Henson, with the two receiving praise for their portrayals of estranged husband and wife Luscious Lyon and Cookie.
