entertainment

Actresses of color make equal-pay quest a group effort

22 Comments
By LYNN ELBER and LINDSEY BAHR

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22 Comments
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Gabrielle Union has had a great career. Her films typically gross well above the budgets and she has had a strong steady career.

Viola Davis has had an amazing resume and career. It’s hard to picture a movie I haven’t see her in when I was younger and in my teens.

The issue with actresses and actors who are not white is that they keep trying to break into Hollywood. Turn your backs on Hollywood. Start your own production companies to get producer credits on films and branch out to have your own filming companies or only work with minority companies. You have to force the change you want. You can’t keep giving them what they want and then voice your complaints.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

You can’t keep giving them what they want and then voice your complaints.

+1

The discussion always becomes about what people “deserve,” as if Hollywood were some kind of government-run employment office. Nobody deserves anything more than they can squeeze out of Hollywood . It has always been a self-interested industry and it always will be because that’s what the people want. It will only change when the box office dictates that it do so.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The market sets wages, not social justice.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Speaking of basketball. LebronJames makes 35 million dollars. Women’s NBA highest paid gets 3% of that salary.

planning to do some about this next? Cause I really don’t care that women have 5% less speaking roles in a movie than their population share.

Let’s get out of Hollywood and work in the real world instead.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

'We are a certain color, therefore we demand you give us what we want!'

I thought we are supposed to be judged by the content of our character and the product of our hard work.

Based on these girls morality, all white average NBA players should demand equal pay as the African American superstars. That's not gonna happen and shouldn't unless they are of equal ability.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I mean, I went to see Bad Boys 2 because Gabrielle Union was in it. Didn’t everyone? Forget those nobodies Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. She should have been paid same as them. Despite not even being in Bad Boys 1.

Isnt her husband in the NBA? Why does he make more than women NBA players of higher ability?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

'We are a certain color, therefore we demand you give us what we want!'

I thought we are supposed to be judged by the content of our character and the product of our hard work.

That was what the party of JFK believed. If you haven't noticed, the "progressives" are now setting policy for the left and they believe in nonsense like intersectionality.

They feel they're entitled to everything for free.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

They feel they're entitled to everything for free.

Feel free to make grandiose overgeneralizations.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

If a job doesn’t pay what I think I am worth then I don’t take it!

Nothing to do with my ‘color’

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Bottom line is, if you're not happy with how much you get paid, shop around for a better deal. Why would anyone not want to invest in a 'poc' if their name alone can guarantee the film's financial success?! Just doesnt make sense to me, esp in Hollyw$$d.

Imo most investors/producers are colour blind, they want pulling power, bankable stars etc & couldnt care less about someone's race or even how talented they are (pretty much the same in biz/sales jobs).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I thought we are supposed to be judged by the content of our character and the product of our hard work.

@Concerned citizen

We are supposed to; however, not all industries do that. When it comes to entertainment, it doesn't happen often. But that is because it is a demand industry. Also, if the employer sets the price and you choose to accept the price, then you can't complain that it isn't high enough. While I am with them for their fight of equal pay, they have to also learn to create their own opportunities and turn down those offers and force the industry to pay you more.

Speaking of basketball. LebronJames makes 35 million dollars. Women’s NBA highest paid gets 3% of that salary. planning to do some about this next? Cause I really don’t care that women have 5% less speaking roles in a movie than their population share.

@Black label

The female NBA players have already been fighting for equal pay. Same with soccer players. To be honest, the only people that have a real leg to stand on are female soccer players. They have a much higher viewership rating in America and they also are consistent winners compared to the men's teams. Also, the owners of the female soccer league have the highest ROI in American sports. The 2nd highest is the NFL.

At the end of the day, all these people that want equal pay need to do what the NHL did. They NHL lost many seasons because the players banded together multiple times and went on strike because they wanted higher pay. After 2 strikes and the loss of a lot of money, owners finally bent to their will. Working together is what made the NBA what it is as well. The NBA players have all the power.

Based on these girls morality, all white average NBA players should demand equal pay as the African American superstars. That's not gonna happen and shouldn't unless they are of equal ability.

@Concerned citizen

White NBA players actually do get equal pay. Check the max contracts for many players. To receive the money that they receive, they have to meet certain criteria to qualify for those contracts. Many white players do qualify for those contracts and many white players have max contracts. Simply isn't televised as often. For almost a decade, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol were in the top 5 of the highest paid NBA player with Dirk Nowitzki consistently being number 2 or 1.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

How could this be? Hollywood is dominated by people whose politics undeniably lean left and Democratic. Aren't they, then, supposed to be more racially sensitive and tolerant than everyone else?

How could these supposedly racially-sensitive left-leaners allow this disparity to happen?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Actors are paid by the amount of butts they will put in theater seats. Most of the people you see rallying for 'equal pay' are people who haven't (or never have) had their name above a movie title in a very long time.

Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union? Really? I haven't seen anything worth mentioning with either of them in it in years. I think Bad Boys 2 was the last time I saw Union and I don't remember the last time I saw Alba do anything at all. Why would they be paid equally to stars that are actual box office draws?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

rich people saying "gimme more!"

0 ( +1 / -1 )

How could this be? Hollywood is dominated by people whose politics undeniably lean left and Democratic. Aren't they, then, supposed to be more racially sensitive and tolerant than everyone else?

How could these supposedly racially-sensitive left-leaners allow this disparity to happen?

It's almost as if capitalism and its need to increase profits at the expense of everything else in combination with the US' rich history of racism and misogyny is a bad thing.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@JoeBlow,

Exactly right. The party Kennedy knew is gone. Interestingly JFK was aware of the danger of the Democratic party going to the extreme left and warned about it. To no avail.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Donald Trump is the true heir of Kennedy, and look at how the current Dems hate him.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Actresses of color make equal-pay quest a group effort

All people have a color therefore all actresses are, “actresses of color”. Let’s not go back to the bad old days of segregation.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Anyone are gorgeous are Gabrielle Union deserves a pay raise.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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