You got it backward..... They owe him. They pay, he collects residuals. He is laughing his ass off because he gets so much for giving so little in return.
He gave a credible performance on the show. He’s worth whatever he gets. In acting, as with everything else, a person’s worth in a job is measured by how much he can get.
My point — perhaps more subtle than it needed to be — is that he’s no media outsider.