Following Taraji P. Henson‘s viral comments about Black women in Hollywood not getting paid what they deserve, as well as other recent comments she made about her experience on The Color Purple set and other projects she’s been involved in throughout her career, the internet has speculated that The Color Purple actor wasn’t too happy with Oprah Winfrey, who produced the new musical. Since then, the two have made a point to clear up the rumors, doing so most recently on Wednesday night after a screening of The Color Purple.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scandal alum Kerry Washington moderated a Q&A with Winfrey and Henson as well as The Color Purple stars Danielle Brooks and Fantasia Barrino after the film was screened. Henson gushed about Winfrey during the discussion, sharing that the former talk show host “knows how to produce” and has immense “pride” in the movie, which she said Winfrey “poured into us.”
“I mean, she called and was like, ‘If there’s anything I can help you with, let me know,’” Henson remembered Winfrey sharing with her. “And I said, ‘Well since you asked.’ But this is the job of the producer, right? Some producers don’t even come to set, y’all. This is a blessing that she came. … But my point is that that’s the job of the producer, a good producer. And when I told her, she said, ‘Say less.’ The next day everything was fixed, and then she was on set for all the important and heavy lifts. She was there holding our hands with the whole thing, loving on us.”
Henson later thanked Winfrey “for pouring so much into us and believing in us and supporting us.”
Winfrey more directly addressed the rumors at the Golden Globes last week, asserting that the speculation couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“People are saying that I was not supporting Taraji,” she said during a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight. “Taraji will tell you herself that I’ve been the greatest champion of this film. Championing not only the behind-the-scenes projection but also everything that everybody needed. I’m not in charge of the budget because that’s Warner Bros., you know. That’s the way the studio system works.”
She went on to explain, “We as producers, everybody gets their salary, everybody is negotiated by your team. And so, whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem, there was a problem with cars or the problem with their food, I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right. And I believe that she would even vouch for that and say that is true.”
In a Jan. 5 interview with The New York Times, Henson reflected on her experience working on the movie. She said that she had to fight to get many things for both her and her Black female co-stars while they were filming The Color Purple.
“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?” she told the Times. “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.’”
Billboard reported that The Color Purple is up for one of the biggest SAG awards at this year’s ceremony: Best Film Ensemble. And it faces some stiff competition — American Fiction, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer are also nominated in the category.
