This Oscar-Winning Actress Is Calling For A Netflix Boycott After Discovering Pay Disparity

Comedian and Oscar-winning actress Monique Angela Hicks, a.k.a Mo’Nique, refuses to be lowballed.

On Friday, the actress shared an impassioned video on Instagram calling out Netflix for both gender and racial bias. "Hey my loves,” she opened the video, addressing her followers. “I am asking that you stand with me and boycott Netflix for gender bias and colour bias.”

She then went on to explain a recent contract conflict.

"I was offered a $500,000-deal last week to do a comedy special," she said. "However Amy Schumer was offered $11 million, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle — $20 million. Then Amy Schumer went and renegotiated two more million dollars because she said, 'I shouldn't get what the men are getting, they're legends, however, I should get more,' and Netflix agreed."

In August of last year, Schumer made headlines after she revealed the massive wage gap between what she was offered for a Netflix special versus other male comedians, which Mo’Nique points out in her video. As Variety explained, Schumer received “significantly more compensation after she raised the question of fairness.”

While Schumer’s hard-won battle brought attention to Hollywood’s wage gap between men and women, Mo’Nique calls out another massive problem: Intersectional bias, discrimination involving both gender and race. In 2017 Forbes released the world’s highest-earning actresses and actors. Male stars dominated the list. However, there were no Black women.

After Mo’Nique pressed executives to explain the drastic difference between Schumer’s payout and her offered salary, she wasn’t having it.

“When we asked Netflix to explain the difference, why the money was so different, they said, ‘Well, we believe that’s what Mo’Nique will bring.’ We said, ‘What about my résumé?’ They said, ‘We don’t go off of résumés,’” she continued. “Then we asked them, ‘What was it about Amy Schumer?’ And they said, ‘Well, she sold out Madison Square Garden twice and she had a big movie over the summer.’ Is that not Amy Schumer’s résumé?”

The Oscar-winning actress nabbed a Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the 2010 film, Precious. While Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock's salaries were all reflective of certain X-factors, $500,000 in comparison to $20 million is a stark contrast.

And of course, to Mo’Nique’s point, Schumer does not have an Oscar.

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