Terrence Howard Says He Only Made $12K From 'Hustle & Flow,' Is Owed Royalties

Terrence Howard's starring role.in 'Hustle & Flow' didn't actually earn him that much money. He even claims he's owed 20 years of royalties on the movie.

Terrence Howard became a household name in the mid-2000s thanks to his starring roles in movies like Crash and Hustle & Flow. His role as DJay in Hustle & Flow in particular introduced him to the masses and earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. And while it established him as a serious actor in the industry, he didn't take home a big paycheck for his work—and might still be owed money today. 

Howard opened up about his Hustle & Flow experience to WREG. "I made $12,000 for doing Hustle & Flow," he told the Memphis news station. “And then on top of it, what Paramount did [is] instead of putting my name as ‘Terrence Howard’ performing the songs, they put 'Performed by DJay.' Well, they owned DJay. So guess what? The performance royalties went to Paramount."

"Terrence Howard made $12,000. That's all I ever made from Hustle & Flow. Everything else went right back into Paramount," he added. "So now I gotta sue Paramount, or send them a letter. I've got to send them a letter to say 'Hey, you guys owe me about 20 years' worth of residuals and performance royalties.'" 

Howard noted that at the time, he was just trying to pay his rent and wasn't thinking of the bigger picture. He also pointed out he made half that amount for his role in Crash, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. 

"The business doesn't pay actors anything. That's why the strike [happened]. Actors are struggling," he stated plainly. 

It's probably safe to say Lucious Lyon wouldn't stand for being short-changed like Howard once was.