Actress Emma Stone has revealed that some of her male co-stars have taken pay cuts, in order to ensure that they both have equal pay.
Stone, 28, admitted that these actors took a lower fee because they believed that it was the ‘fair’ thing to do.
Promoting her new film, Battle of the Sexes, she spoke about gender equality in an interview with OUT magazine. She said, “In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them.”
“And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair.”
“That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily – that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, ‘That’s what’s fair.’”
“It’s not about, ‘Women are this and men are that.’”
“It is, ‘We are all the same, we are all equal, we all deserve the same respect and the same rights.’
“And that’s really what I’ve been so grateful for with male co-stars – when I’ve been in a similar-size role in films, and it’s been multiple people who have ben really incredible and said, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s what’s fair and what’s right.’”
In Battle of the Sexes, the actress plays the role of Billie Jean King, the iconic tennis player. The film depicts the famous 1973 match between King and Bobby Riggs. The match became the most watched television sports event of all time, but the film also focuses on the off-court struggles of equal pay for the players and King’s struggle with her sexuality.
Stone’s comments follow the news earlier this year that lead cast members of the hit show, The Big Bang Theory, have taken pay cuts so their female co-stars can have a pay rise.
The five original cast members of the CBS show, Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg reportedly gave up $100,000 from their $1 million per episode salary.
In 2014, Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco all signed contracts worth $1 million per episode, while Nayyar and Helberg signed the same deal during the last contract renewal.
However, the show’s two other main cast members, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch are currently only earning around $200,000 per episode, around 80 per cent less than their co-stars.
The gesture has put pressure on the network to move closer to equal pay for all seven members of the cast. The money given up could help to raise Bialik and Rauch’s wages to $450,000 per episode.