Kenan Thompson has enjoyed a consistent Hollywood success 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 he said stole his money.
The comedian 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 starting his adult acting career with no money.
“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.
Thompson said the accountant stole $1.5 million from Thompson after his family trusted him.
“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…He had helped her out of her tax situation, 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 bounced back in a big way, using 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 the NBC 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