People Are Foolishly Claiming Mark Wahlberg’s Donation Is A “Victory” For Equal Pay

Mark Wahlberg made a wise public relations decision when he chose to donate the $1.5 million he earned from reshoots for For All The Money In The World to the ‘Time’s Up’ legal defense fund.

As was written previously, Wahlberg did nothing wrong. He and his agent exercised the leverage they had with the studio to negotiate a $1.5 million payout for scene reshoots. Wahlberg had co-star approval and told the studio he wouldn’t sign off on Christopher Plummer unless he received compensation for his time.

Of course, when the story originally broke, there were howls of feminist outrage about “equal pay” and how the top-billed actress, Michelle Williams was getting shafted for only receiving a $1,000 per diem. “She’s getting paid less than 1 percent of her co-star!!! RAAAAGE!!”

Here’s the latest:

Actor Mark Wahlberg announced Saturday that he would donate the $1.5 million he received for reshoots of “All The Money in the World” to the “Time’s Up” legal defense fund.

Wahlberg made the announcement after it was reported that his female co-star, Michelle Williams, received less than $1,000 for the same work.

In a statement to Deadline Hollywood, Wahlberg said that he supports the fight for pay equality “100 percent” and is donating the money in Williams’ name.

“Over the last few days my reshoot fee for All The Money in the World has become an important topic of conversation. I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I’m donating the $1.5 million to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name,” Wahlberg said.

Again, it’s an excellent public relations move. But the reaction is just silly. This tweet:

According to her bio: Founder/Publisher of @womenahollywood which educates, advocates and agitates for gender equity in Hollywood.

How in the world is this a victory for equal pay? And why should there be equal pay? Actors and actresses, as well as franchises, are marketable commodities in Hollywood. Actors and actresses get paid based on their influence, representation and star power. That is why Wahlberg earned more than Williams. Not sexism.

Melissa McCarthy made $14 million for the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters. Who wants to bet Kristen Wiig or Leslie Jones didn’t make that much? Are people going to yell about equal pay in such cases?

You know who surprisingly has a great outlook on Hollywood pay? Left-winger, Susan Sarandon. That’s right. Here’s what she said:

I don’t think it matters that Jennifer Lawrence is paid 70 times more than what I am. It’s a business that is so subjective and I feel so lucky to be able to earn a living, and this is why to go after pay equality is a really chancy subject — because if Tom Cruise has a leading lady that’s in the movie as much as he is, should she get the same amount of money if she’s been in the business a shorter amount of time? And should a character actor that’s been in the business for 50 years not get paid more?… There’s no equity in terms of value, and who knows how these decisions are made. So you can’t apply that to feeling unfair because the whole fact that actors get paid as much as we do is ridiculous. I mean, what a fabulous life. I can’t bitch about whatever my pay level is. I don’t focus on that.

Women in Hollywood are setting themselves up for some hurt if they think the attempts at shaming will make their paychecks bigger. Sarandon is 100 percent right. It is a subjective business. That’s not going to change.

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