Meryl Streep Once Regretted Making a Speech Supporting Equal Pay Among Actors
Meryl Streep has been a longtime advocate of equal pay for female and male actors. But there was a point in time earlier in her career when she wished she hadn’t spoken publicly about the issue.
Meryl Streep once shared why she believed there was still unequal pay in the industry
With her long career in the film industry, Streep has seen how Hollywood has changed over the years. But despite the business making some progress in regards to equal pay, the Oscar-winner once maintained there was still work to be done. In a 2015 interview with BBC, Streep shared one of the reasons she believed there was still this noticeable pay disparity between actors.
“We have to be made equal,” Streep said. “I will say that it has to do with the distribution of films, how films are financed. The ten top buyers in the United States for films, every territory, there’s not one woman. So, men, women have different tastes sometimes. But if the people that are choosing what goes out into the multiplexes are all of one persuasian, the choice will be limited. And then that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Streep also asserted that she’s also received less pay than her male co-stars in the past despite her successes.
Why Meryl Streep once regretted making a speech supporting equal pay among actors
Earlier in her career, Streep recalled an incident where she spoke up about equal pay among actors in the early 90s. This was during a time when speaking on the wage gap in Hollywood wasn’t as passionate as it became in later years. But back then, she wondered if delivering this speech was a mistake.
“Here’s the difficulty of having this conversation: You’re talking to incredibly privileged people. You know, I made one speech [about actresses being paid less than actors], and I have regretted this speech every day of my life. It’s like that’s my thing! Gawd,” Streep once said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
It didn’t help that a lot of younger actors at the time were willing to accept the pay gap between genders. This further discouraged the Sophie’s Choice star from raising awareness on the issue.
“And then I read interviews with other actresses and they say, ‘Oh, well, I’m not going to complain because I feel very privileged,’ and I think, ‘Oh, right,’” she added. “I’m not raising any banner. All I did was say in one speech what everybody knows. If the people who are making this money at the top of the profession don’t speak about it, then when will there be equity down the line?”
Meryl Streep once shared that a popular male actor didn’t deserve the high salary he commanded
To the Don’t Look Up actor, even male actors who didn’t seem commercially viable commanded more pay than accomplished women actors. Although Streep didn’t reference the actor by name, she mentioned a star who would often attract a huge salary. But she didn’t believe the actor’s box-office value matched his earnings.
“People who are paying him feel, oh, I wish I were like that! So he seems valuable, but really, in terms of box office, if you put his name on that marquee, it’s not going to bring in the people who watch Beavis and Butt-head,” Streep said.
