Taraji P. Henson fought for The Color Purple cast to be given drivers.
The actress, who portrays Shug Avery in the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel, has criticized producers for giving her and her co-stars rental cars to drive themselves to the set for filming. Henson argued it was an “insurance liability” and would be “dangerous” for them.
“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,” the Proud Mary actor told The New York Times.
“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,” she added.
The Hidden Figures actor 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.”
She also claimed studios were reluctant to promote “Black films” globally.
“With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that,” Henson stated. “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 capitalize 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.”
