50 Cent Doubles Down on Desire to Work With Taraji P. Henson Amid Her Talk About Pay Discrepancies

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is serious about working with Taraji P. Henson. The rapper-turned-television show creator has been campaigning for Henson to work on his Power franchise on STARZ. He recently doubled down on his desire to work with The Color Purple star amid Henson’s publicly sharing her frustrations about pay inequity for Black women in Hollywood. In one of his latest Instagram posts, 50 captioned a photo of him surrounded by alcohol, “Someone called me today thinking I was bullsh!ting about working with @tarajiphenson till I told them what I made STARZ pay @therealmaryjblige to be on GHOST, I ain’t out here fvcking around.” Blige stars as Monet Tejada in Power Book II: Ghost. The series is entering its fourth season. Blige reportedly was paid $400k an episode in season 3, more than Henson made on Empire, making Blige one of the highest-paid women on television. 

While promoting her work in The Color Purple, Henson mentioned she fired her entire management team during a conversation with Variety. The Oscar nominee says there was an Empire spin-off in development focused on her popular character Cookie Lyons, but nothing came to fruition. Moreso, she says her work offers dried up after the series ended after six seasons. Henson says her team failed to capitalize on her success on the show.

The Baby Boy star also has been open about only receiving 2% of Brad Pitt’s salary while filming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. She says she hasn’t received a pay increase for a project since starring in Proud Mary in 2018. 

Henson has starred in several blockbuster films, including Hidden Figures while simultaneously working on Empire, which was the highest-rated prime-time series at the time it aired. Henson recently spoke about poor working conditions she’s experienced, including as recently as on The Color Purple. She says she had to fight for drivers and security for her and the cast after being provided rental cars, which she deemed a liability. While filming Empire, Henson claims she was in bug-infested trailers.