In a resurfaced video that has gone viral, Viola Davis, often considered one of the most prolific actors working today, talked about wage disparities in Hollywood and said she was not compensated in proportion to her white and male counterparts.
In a clip from a February 2018 interview for Women in the World, Davis broke down how she hadn’t gained the same amount of respect in Hollywood compared to other actors who received similar accolades. The old clip made its rounds on Twitter after actress Gabrielle Union retweeted it with the caption “This!!!!!! All day THIS!!!!” In the video, Davis explained that although she had a career comparable to those of Hollywood heavyweights like Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Sigourney Weaver, she was nowhere close to receiving the same pay or job opportunities as them. She was constantly praised for her talent as an actress, but demanded that she also be compensated equally for it.
“‘You’re a Black Meryl Streep. There’s no one like you.’ Okay, then if there’s no one like me, you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth. You give me what I’m worth,” Davis said in the interview.
This!!!!!! All day THIS!!!! https://t.co/z0Bq84x2Lp
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) July 1, 2020
Viola Davis has been in Hollywood for twenty-five years and has had a very successful career in television, film and theater. Davis has received multiple nominations for her work and she is the first black actor to receive the “Triple Crown of Acting”: an Emmy for her role as Annalise Keating in “How to Get Away with Murder”, an Academy Award for her role as Rose Maxon in “Fences”, and two Tony’s for her roles in “King Hedley II” as well as the stage production of “Fences.” Though she consistently gives great performances and is often nominated for her acting, Davis doesn’t think the pay and job opportunities she’s received reflects the quality of her work in Hollywood.
The gender wage gap in entertainment is no secret; on average, female actors are paid one million dollars less than their male counterparts. One infamous example of the wage gap was the 2014 film “American Hustle” in which Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams, two actresses at the height of their respective careers, were paid 2 percent less than their male co-stars, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner. However, Black women in Hollywood are paid even less. In the United States, Black women received 21 percent less pay than white women and a staggering 39 percent less than white men. In 2019, there was only one woman of color, Colombian-American Sofia Vergara, on Forbes’ list of highest paid actresses.
Today is #BlackWomensEqualPayDay which highlights the hard fact that Black Women in America have to work 599 days to make what white men get in 365 days. Black Women are paid 39% less than their white male counterparts. This is true in every industry. Hollywood included. pic.twitter.com/wvpq9xJmVG
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 22, 2019
As conversations about representation and inclusion continue to dominate the entertainment news cycle, it’s important to remember that even though we might see more diversity on screen, this doesn’t mean that women and people of color are treated the same respect as white men behind the scenes.
