Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams: The Gender Pay Gap
The issue of gender equality has once again made headlines. Ridley Scott, after axing Kevin Spacey from his film “All the Money in the World” amidst multiple sexual assault allegations, chose to reshoot over twenty scenes featuring Spacey. Although Scott claimed in an interview with The Guardian that the cast due to the reasons behind the reshoot, the actors ‘agreed to reshoot scenes for no extra payment’, it has emerged that Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million, while co-star Michelle Williams only earned $1000. Many celebrities took to Twitter to express their outrage and support Williams, who is an advocate for the Time’s Up and #metoo campaigns. Jessica Chastain urged fans to go and see the movie because she is a ‘brilliant actress’ and ‘deserves more than 1% of her male co-star’s salary.’ Mia Farrah also tweeted: ‘So wait they removed Kevin Spacey but kept the misogyny going?’
In response to the public outcry, Wahlberg released a statement to say that he ‘100% supports the fight for fair pay’ and donated his $1.5 million fee to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name. William’s responded, saying ‘today isn’t about me’ and ‘it is one of the most indelible days of my life because of Mark Wahlberg, WME and a community of women and men who share in this accomplishment.’
Despite Wahlberg’s generous donation, it does raise the question of whether the Time’s Up and #metoo campaigns are being truly listened to by the industry. It is clear there is a long way to go before gender equality is achieved.
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