CBS Comments On Salary Offers Made To Former TV Show Stars Kim And Park

It’s been a hard week for the folks over at CBS as former Hawaii Five-0 stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park decided to exit the show and end their contracts immediately after negotiations for a larger salary fell through.

In recent days, news broke that the stars of the show — both Asian — were being paid less than the rest of the cast members, something they felt was unfair and possibly related to their race. After executives over at CBS, the network that airs Hawaii Five-0, allegedly refused to increase their salaries to match those of the rest of the cast, Kim and Park simply opted out of renewing their contract.

Now, CBS is firing back, responding to the allegations and comments that both stars have made. As reported by Variety, CBS offered “large and significant salary increases” to both stars in order to stop them from terminating their contracts, just as the successful TV show is set to start its eighth season later this year. The network issued a statement saying that “[CBS] did not want to lose them and tried very hard to keep them with offers for large and significant salary increases.

“While we could not reach an agreement, we part ways with tremendous respect for their talents on screen, as well as their roles as ambassadors for the show off screen, and with hopes to work with them again in the near future.”

According to Variety, both Kim and Park were making approximately $5,000 less than stars Scott Caan and Alex O’Loughlin, who make about $200,000 per episode. Sources close to Kim, though, deny that statement, saying that the gap between the actors was more significant.

Reports say that Kim and Park entered into negotiations separately, looking for different deals which resulted in Park’s offer being even less than Kim’s — the fact that Park is a woman is also not looking great for CBS. Regardless, the offer turned out to be a complete deal breaker for the stars, making this past seventh season the last one in which they will appear for now.

However, CBS’s statement did make it clear that the negotiations were amicable and that, while they were not able to reach an agreement, they still respect both Kim and Park, so maybe a comeback to Hawaii Five-0 could be in their future?

[Featured Image by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly]