Taraji P. Henson hits back at ongoing Oprah Winfrey feud rumors as she believes they are taking away from The Color Purple: ‘I hope they can focus back onto this film’

Taraji P. Henson hit back at the ongoing rumors about her alleged feud with Oprah Winfrey as she believes that the chatter is taking away from their film The Color Purple amid Awards season and Oscar buzz.

The 53-year-old Academy Award winner – who stunned at the Primetime Emmy Awards earlier this week – got candid about the claimed rivalry between her and the 69-year-old mogul which Oprah also addressed earlier this month.

Taraji told Today.com: ‘I hope they can focus back onto this film, because right now, to me, it feels like what I said is now becoming louder than this beautiful film.’

The former star of Empire portrays Shug Avery in the critically acclaimed film while Oprah served as producer and starred in the 1985 original film directed by Steven Spielberg.

Taraji continued: ‘I hope they can focus back onto this film, because right now, to me, it feels like what I said is now becoming louder than this beautiful film.

‘And that’s not fair to me, or anybody in the film because the film deals with women who are oppressed — who live in an oppressed system.

‘Men and women. And all the characters in that film except for the white people. So that movie is about healing. That movie is about sisterhood.’ 

Earlier this month Oprah vehemently denied rumors of a feud between herself and Taraji P. Henson after the Color Purple star aired her complaints about the production’s attempts to pinch pennies.

While speaking with CBS‘ Gayle King on Sunday on the red carpet for the 2024 Golden Globe Awards, the 69-year-old talk show host and actress sounded as if she was shocked by the talk of alleged bad blood between her and Taraji.

‘It’s so disturbing to me. Why is my name even in this conversation? Why is my name in this conversation? ‘Cause I have just been the champion for everybody,’ she said defensively.

The rumors of a spat between the women sprouted after Henson publicly complained about a paltry initial salary offer and alleged that she and other cast members were told they would need to drive their rental cars to The Color Purple’s set.

While speaking to the New York Times, the Curious Case Of Benjamin Button actress said that not only was the request insulting for an actor of her fame, but that it was also potentially ‘dangerous’ and an ‘insurance liability’ issue.

‘The thing that is so upsetting to me is that … something went viral where they’re analyzing us on top of the Empire State Building,’ Winfrey continued, referring to a TikTok video that fans had dissected.

The clip, which was taken from a December trip to the iconic skyscraper in which the cast and creative team were able to bathe it in purple lights to advertise their film, shows Winfrey moseying over to the edge of the room where Taraji is leaning against the fence.

The two posed for some photos while standing next to each other, but then Taraji’s costars Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks and their director Samuel Bazawule join them for a group photo and Oprah quickly moved from next to Taraji to the outer edge.

Some TikTok users took the move away from Taraji as a sign of some tension between the two, but their earlier smiles and demeanor didn’t appear to display that alleged tension, and it was more likely that the Oprah Winfrey Show host was merely moving out of the center to that the three actress could be in the prime location, while the two behind-the-scenes figures were on the outskirts of the photo.

Oprah told her best friend Gayle that any lack of warmth between her and Taraji that day was likely due to the chilly, breezy conditions high above Manhattan.

‘We were cold! It was cold,’ she added. ‘That was the fourth thing we had done that day.’

Winfrey went on to defend her attempts as a producer on The Color Purple to make working conditions more comfortable for Taraji and her costars.

‘I heard that Taraji was upset because she had been asked to [use] a rental car,’ she explained to King. ‘I personally called Toby Emmerich, who was at the time the head of Warner Bros., and he said, “Well that means we have to do cars for everybody.”

‘And I said, “Then we do cars for everybody. And if it’s necessary, I will pay for the cars myself.” He goes, “Well, we don’t want you to do that,”‘ she recounted.

‘So that was one thing, trailers were another thing, food was anther thing. And everything got handled,’ Winfrey added.

It’s unclear if the production ultimately found room in the budget to pay for those amenities, or if she had to try something more creative to get chauffeured cars funded.

Winfrey previously painted herself as a problem solver on the production during an earlier interview with ET.

‘Whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem — there was a problem with a cars or the problem with their food — I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right. And I believe that [Henson] would even vouch for that and say that is true.’

Despite that, she made it clear that she was ‘not in charge of the budget,’ and a producer credit can indicate varying degrees of involvement on the project.

Although they may be closely involved in determining the budget and how money is spent on set, Winfrey could have also been more focused on supervising the creative aspects of the film, or it may have largely been a symbolic producer’s credit to help market the film.

The Color Purple remake, which is an adaptation of the later stage musical version of the story, was also produced by Steven Spielberg — who directed the non-musical 1985 adaptation of the Alice Walker novel — as well as the original film’s producer Quincy Jones and the stage musical’s producer Scott Sanders.

Though fans have speculated on a feud between Henson and Winfrey based on supposed clues in Henson’s interviews and the Empire State Building, the Empire star has described Winfrey as a supportive force who was in her corner in the same New York Times interview in which she complained about being told to drive herself.

She went further in praising the talk show host in a December Instagram post featuring a photo taken from their Empire State Building photoshoot.

‘Ms. OPRAH has been nothing less than a steady and solid beacon of light to ALL OF THE CAST of The Color Purple!!!,’ she gushed in her caption. ‘She has provided ENCOURAGEMENT, GUIDANCE and UNWAVERING SUPPORT to us all.

‘She told me personally to reach out to her for ANYTHING I needed, and I did!’

Taraji clarified that, ‘It took ONE CALL… ONE CONVERSATION… and ONE DECISION MAKING BLACK WOMAN to make me feel heard.’

She added: ‘Thank You Ms. @OPRAH For ALL That You Do.’