Empire was one of the most popular television shows in history and the biggest for African Americans in terms of ratings during its prime. People gathered around screens every Wednesday to see the trials and tribulations of the Lyons family for six seasons.
Terrence Howard played the sinful Luscious Lyons. Now the actor is suing 20th Century Fox for allegedly taking a still from his previous movie to create the logo of the hit show.
Howard had been questioning 20th Century Fox executives behind the scenes about how they came up with the idea for the Empire logo. As fans know, it is a subtle profile of Lucious Lyon’s face. According to TMZ, Fox could not give a proper answer to Howard, if they ever gave him one at all, and now the actor is taking the Rupert Murdoch’s company to court. Howard claimed that he never did a photo shoot for the logo, but noticed the comparisons to his previous projects before the hit television show.
The outlet states that Terrence Howard believes that the Empire logo was created from a scene in Hustle & Flow when his character of Tyler DJay Moran was in the studio producing the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”.
“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,” the court papers reportedly stated. Howard is suing Fox because if they had contacted Paramount Studios for permission to use the image, he would have been cut a check. If everything goes the actor’s way, he may be entitled to damages and a portion of Empire merchandise profits. The amount he’s seeking is unknown.
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