Keenan Thompson’s Old Accountant Stole $1.5M From Him During His Nickelodeon Days
Keenan Thompson has enjoyed a consistent Hollywood career since his start as a child star on Nickelodeon. But he remembers being “broke” at the start of his adult acting career thanks to a shady accountant who “stole” his money.
The “SNL” star appeared on “The Breakfast Club” on Friday, February 2 where he relived parts of his 30-year career which includes starring on Nickelodeon comedy shows in the 90s like “All That” and “Kenan and Kel” before becoming the longest-tenured cast member in “Saturday Night Live” history.
Despite his success, Thompson’s Hollywood career hasn’t always been smooth sailing. He recalled a crucial time in his life when he was kicking off his adult acting career with no money thanks to a crooked accountant who robbed him while he was a child actor working at Nickelodeon.
“I had a bad accountant,” Thompson explained. “And it came to the light around ’99, around 2000. Which was really bad timing because that’s right when I left my consistent gig… when I went into being an adult actor for hire, and that is very hit and miss.”
Thompson admits to being “broke” at the time and while he was getting work, the funds were “just money enough for rent kind of thing,” he shared. Despite the hard lesson learned at the hands of a “dirty” accountant,” Thompson didn’t let it bring him down.
“I ended up not letting that be the end all be all of what my life is going to be,” he said.
The accountant was able to steal $1.5 million from the rising television after Thompson’s family trusted him enough to give him power of attorney.
“We gave him power of attorney when we shouldn’t have,” Thompson recalled. “I was a kid and my mom was trying to protect me. You know, I mean, and he had helped her out of her tax situations… so she thought she could trust him. But she could trust him with, like, the $30 to $50 grand issues kind of thing.”
But, when it’s like a million dollars on the table, you never know what people gonna turn into and apparently he turned into a demon,” he added.
Thompson didn’t learn about the shady business dealings until the IRS came after him for unpaid taxes. Even after suing the accountant, Thompson knew he would never get the money back. The amount stolen he says totaled most of his earnings throughout his Nickelodeon career.
However, the “Good Burger” star was able to bounce back in a big way and used the experience as motivation to continue his acting career. Just three years after leaving Nickelodeon, Thompson joined “SNL” in 2003 where he remains. He starred on NBC’s sitcom “Kenan” from 2021 to 2022.
“If it wasn’t for that I don’t know if my track would be the same. Because I was ready to settle into Atlanta. You know what I mean? Like I was ready to just be like, ‘Nah, I’m good’ and ‘three and a half hours to LA so if they need me, they can call me’ kind of thing,” he said. “But I don’t think I would have been as hungry… or as dedicated, necessarily.”
RELATED CONTENT: Damon Dash Responds To Fat Joe’s ‘You Made A JAY-Z, Go Make Another JAY-Z’ Comment
The post Keenan Thompson’s Old Accountant Stole $1.5M From Him During His Nickelodeon Days first appeared on Black Enterprise.