George Clooney Cited In Petition Demanding More Pay For Hollywood’s Leading Ladies
There has been much talk recently about the huge wage gap between Hollywood’s leading men and ladies and now a petition has been launched asking George Clooney to join in the fight.
The new Care2 petition is demanding equal pay for Hollywood actresses to keep them on a par with the male stars. Veteran Hollywood Actor George Clooney has already been on record as acknowledging the discrepancy between salaries paid to male and female stars in the industry. He recently said that acknowledging this gap is “a very good conversation” to have. Now the petition is demanding that Clooney take this support to the next level.
This petition comes days after Jennifer Lawrence penned an essay titled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?” for Lena Dunham’s newsletter Lenny. In her well-known style, Lawrence said “F**k that” to vent both her fury and frustration over the discovery emanating from the 2014 Sony hack which revealed she was paid much less than her male co-stars Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale for the movie American Hustle.
In the essay Lawrence admitted that there was an “element of wanting to be liked” that influenced her decision to close the salary deal without a fight, saying “I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.'”
She added that while it seemed like a good idea at the time, when she saw the actual payroll online, she realized every man she was working with “definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’.”
Bradley Cooper is helping to eradicate the #genderpaygap – will megastar George Clooney? https://t.co/N8o59cEMGd pic.twitter.com/BFrtQiv2pm
— Care2.com (@Care2) October 21, 2015
According to Refinery29, Cooper has now joined the fight, urging his fellow Hollywood actors to be “more transparent” about their earnings to give their female co-stars an idea of their own worth to the movie studios.
Cooper had said, “Usually you don’t talk about the financial stuff, you have people,” adding “But you know what? It’s time to start doing that.”
Cooper’s American Sniper co-star, Sienna Miller, applauded Cooper for taking action. While not naming the production or the co-star, according to Contact Music, Miller revealed she pulled out of a Broadway play after she found out her salary was much less than that of her male counterpart in the production.
The Care2 petition is urging Clooney to follow Cooper’s lead and reveal his salary information. In May this year, George Clooney said in an interview with BBC Radio that he was encouraged by the discussion which has come from the Sony leak, saying the one good thing that came out of this in “very liberal Hollywood” is the news that women aren’t being paid the same as the men.
“I think it’s a very good conversation they’re starting to have.”
As reported by Contact Music, the petition was launched by feminist Julie Rodriguez and has so far received over 17,000 signatures at the time of writing, while aiming for 18,000 as a final target.
In the wording of the petition, Rodriguez says, “While it’s easy to dismiss the concerns of professionals like Jennifer Lawrence as coming from a place of privilege most of us will never know, the fact is that sexism in Hollywood reflects sexism within our culture in general.”
She added that, whether a woman is being paid millions less than her co-stars or just losing out on a few extra dollars an hour, this pay inequality is unacceptable in 2015.
“George Clooney has taken a stand on civil rights issues across the world. I hope he’ll consider pledging to fight the pay gap in his own industry as well.”
In other recent news relating to George Clooney, the Inquisitr reports that the Hollywood actor gave his wife, Amal, a great and unusual gift for their first wedding anniversary. He bought her a brand new sushi restaurant in London, so she can enjoy her favorite dishes when in that city.
[Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso /Getty Images Entertainment]
