Terrence Howard fired off a lawsuit at 20th Century FOX for using a photo of him from his 2005 movie, Hustle and Flow, which also starred his Empire co-star, Taraji P. Henson.
The 51-year-old portrayed Lucious Lyon for Empire‘s six seasons but he claims he never did a photoshoot for the show’s promotional assets. Terrence says the photo is from the studio scene from the 2005 drama when he sang the Grammy-award winning song, “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.”
Howard, in the lawsuit, says “the still frame was selected, reversed (face looking left, not right), and subjected to CGI that simply distilled the cinematographer’s skilled capture of the head with vibrant light and shadow” to create the logo for Empire.
Terrence Howard is suing for damages because he says Paramount Studios would’ve paid him for 20th Century FOX’s usage of the image. He also wants an accounting on all merchandise where the logo appears.
Last year, Howard seemingly retired from acting saying he’s “done pretending” and is “focusing on bringing truth to the world.”