Taraji P. Henson fought for ‘The Color Purple’ cast to be given drivers.
The 53-year-old actress – who portrays Shug Avery in the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel – has criticised producers for giving her and her co-stars rental cars to drive themselves to the set for filming, arguing it was an “insurance liability” and would be “dangerous” for them.
She told The New York Times newspaper: “They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous. Now they robbing people.
“What do I look like, taking myself to work by myself in a rental car? So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.’ Well, do it for everybody!
“It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for. I was on the set of ‘Empire’ fighting for trailers that wasn’t infested with bugs.”
Taraji expressed her frustration at such situations “because you fight so hard to establish a name for yourself and be respected in this town to no avail.”
And she claimed studios were reluctant to promote “Black films” globally.
She said: “With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that.
“Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies? I have a following in China of all places. Y’all not going to capitalise on that? Don’t everybody want to make money here?
“I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”
Her latest comments come after the ‘Hidden Figures’ actress recently broke down in tears over the pay disparity she has experienced over the years.
She told SiriusXM: “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost.
“I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ I have to. The math ain’t math-ing.
“And you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”
