The disparity between the salaries of male and female performers continues to simmer on Hollywood’s front-burner, and a new story in Variety includes some shocking examples of female stars who took action after discovering how much less they were earning compared to their male counterparts.
According to the new report in Variety, a source claims that Amy Schumer received $11 million from Netflix for her “Leather Special” stand-up special. However, when Netflix made subsequent deals with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle that paid them $20 mil per special, her team went back to Netflix to renegotiate.
“She received significantly more compensation after she raised the question of fairness relative to the Rock and Chappelle deals,” notes Variety.
However, Schumer disputes that report, taking to Instagram to clarify.
“I believe women deserve equal pay. However I don’t believe I deserve equal pay to Chris and Dave,” she writes. “They are legends and 2 of the greatest comics of all time. I would like to say that I have been selling out arenas these last couple years. Something a female comic has never done. That’s a big deal to me, especially because I know I do my best every night on stage for the audience and they have a good time. I didn’t ask for the same as my friends. I did ask for more than the initial offer. I will continue to work my ass off and be the best performer I can be. The reports of me ‘demanding’ or ‘insisting’ on equal pay to them aren’t true.”
Also interviewed for the article is Yvette Nicole Brown, who’s been a series regular on such series as “Community” and “The Odd Couple”, and marked July 31’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day with a caustic tweet in which she recalls being a series regular on a TV series and learning that a guest star was being paid nearly as much as she was.
Without revealing which TV show she was on at the time, Brown tells Variety that she was sitting in the makeup chair when the unnamed guest star “blurted out” how much he was earning for the guest spot.
“I was like, ‘That’s five dollars less than me,’” Brown recalls. “It’s not like this was Tom Cruise. If Tom Cruise comes, back up the Brinks truck. This was a journeyman actor. He wasn’t performing a series-regular role.”
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Brown eventually came to realize she was earning less than her fellow series regulars. “I’ve been a series regular now for eight years on network television, and I’m making what a guy coming for a week is making,” Brown tells Variety. “And it’s because I’m a black woman.”
“The issue of pay parity looms large in our industry,” SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris (Beverly Hills, 90210) tells Variety. “I’ve seen it for years in my own career, but it was surprising in talking with members and people within the industry to see how pervasive it really is.”
Schumer isn’t the only female comedian to receive less from Netflix than her male counterparts; Sarah Silverman spoke with ET Canada about the issue, revealing she is definitely not earning “Chappelle money” from her Netflix deal.
