Golden Globes 2018 Red Carpet: Debra Messing Calls Out E! For Equal Pay Dispute With Catt Saddler
Debra Messing lashed out at cable network E! at the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan 7, over issues of wage inequality.
Debra Messing Slams E! Over Wage Inequality
During a live interview with E!'s Giuliana Rancic on the red carpet of the 75th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, the Will and Grace star lambasted the network for allegedly choosing to pay their male anchors more than their female counterparts.
Messing was dressed in black along with dozens of other women at the awards ceremony. When E! correspondent Giuliana Rancic asked her why she was wearing the dark shade, Messing said she was wearing black as part of the #TimesUp movement against sexual harassment in the industry.
However, the 49-year-old actress also used this chance to express her displeasure over E!'s failure to pay host Catt Sadler the same salary as her former co-host, Jason Kennedy.
"Time is up and we want diversity and we want intersectional gender parity. We want equal pay, and I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn't believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as male co-hosts," she told Rancic during the interview.
"I mean, I miss Catt Sadler, and so we stand with her, and that's something that can change tomorrow," she added. "We want people to start having the conversations that women are just as valuable as men."
The Catt Sadler Equal Pay Controversy
In December, Sadler, co-host of E!'s "Daily Pop," announced that she was leaving the network after she found out that Kennedy was being paid nearly twice as much as her.
In a blog post that she shared on her website following her departure from E!, Sadler revealed that when the channel started talks of renewing her contract, she was informed that her male co-host was making "close to double" her salary for many years.
She added that she and her team requested the network to give her equal compensation as Kennedy, or at least close to what he was being paid but their request was turned down repeatedly.
Even though E! denied Sadler's claims, many celebrities, including the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Schumer, Olivia Munn, and Jessica Chastain among others, voiced their support for Sadler for leaving E! over pay disparity.
In addition to Messing, Nicole Kidman, Eva Longoria, and Reese Witherspoon also declared their support for Sadler on the red carpet.
Check out Messing's red carpet interview below.
Debra Messing calls out E! for not "paying their female co-hosts the same as male co-hosts." #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/RDGEOCEKod
— Michael Blackmon (@blackmon) January 7, 2018
