Charlie Sheen was paid more money for ONE half hour episode of Anger Management than Jussie Smollett received in total for the first 54 ONE HOUR Empire episodes he co starred in on Empire! Sure Charlie Sheen is a major talent with decades of experience and Sheen should get more, but 54 times as much?
It's not as if Sheen did drugs, destroyed Hotel Suites, ran with Prostitutes and even acquired HIV and possibly passed it on, oh wait, yes he did. And there is your White Entitlement / White Privilege on display. I say this as one who disdains the mere mention of White Privilege and White Entitlement, as one who believes that few people can maintain a career unless they have talent thereby negating the benefit of White Privilege and White Entitlement.
Nobody is condoning the allegations against Jussie Smollett, but when did an Actor freaking out over being the LOWEST PAID ACTOR from all Prime Time Television shows, aka Financial Abuse, not become a topic of discussion? Empire is an Hour Long show that has led Fox Television in ratings for years. Charlie Sheen's show was also on Fox Television, and was only 1/2 hour. Isn't Fox the Channel that had trouble with several of their male Executives behaving badly?
Instead of the Progressive Media considering that Jussie Smollett was Financially abused by Fox, the Progressive Media has decided to eat their own. Smollett probably got a small raise after each season, but because he started at such a low initial amount of 20,000 per episode, according to Huffington Post Smollett was only at 65,000 per episode for season number four. Smollett should have started at 30,000, not 20,000, and quickly worked his way year by year to at least 100,000 by year four. I am estimating that Smollett has been underpaid by between 1 to 2.5 million dollars overall by Empire and Fox.
The hurt Smollett feels, the hurt he showed when he was interviewed by Robin Roberts of Good Morning America was genuine, it radiated from the hurt he felt at being paid so little for being a co star of a number one rated TV show for Fox. Drug using, Prostitute cohabiting, Hotel Trashing, HIV Positive Sharing Charlie Sheen was paid 2 million dollars per ONE HALF HOUR EPISODE on Fox, Jussie Smollett was paid 20,000 per ONE HOUR EPISODE on Fox for a show that had superior ratings to Sheen's show. This is the epitome of White Privilege and White Entitlement. Let's hope that someone in Hollywood has a backbone to end the hostility towards Smollett and redirect some of it toward's the discriminatory pay scale that Smollett was exposed to and that affected him emotionally and mentally. It's time to open up an investigation against Fox Television's contracting practices.
I don't know who you are calling stupid at this point. Sure Smollett did a stupid thing, but it came after 74 episodes. Sheen perpetually did illegal, dangerous to himself and others stupid things, and was rewarded to the tune of 1.8 million to 2.0 million per 1/2 hour episode.
But Sheen never lied about what he did. Like the idiot he is, there was a reveling in it. Nor did Sheen ever deny what he did like Smollett who still maintains he’s innocent when there’s documentary proof. There’s no comparing their careers, name recognition and draw.
The argument is specious.
Tony S, backwards engineering your complaint, then Smollett should have behaved more like Charlie Sheen rather than stew in frustration about his pay for 3 to 4 years? You're kind of implying any behavior is acceptable as long as the performer does not lie about it? Not sure that Sheen ever admitted he had sex with women without letting them know he was HIV positive.
Harriet Miller, You can explain a person's behavior but never excuse it, yet that is the underbelly of what it appears Fox has been doing in terms who and how much they pay their stars. My point is all the attention is on what Smollett did, but not why he did it. An investigation of Fox should come out of this, it's only fair.
No, he should have hired a new agent or left the show in a pay dispute or manned up.
I'm not implying anything. Not admitting you're HIV positive to a partner is not a crime. There's a mixup with behavior and criminal activity. This is the most ridiculous argument for committing a felony, lying about it and garnering support I've ever heard. You're kind of implying that Hitler was right because of the distribution of money in pre-war Germany.
Good point, Harriet. However, the three elements of a contract are: offer, acceptance and consideration.
The situation as it exists regarding Smollett is out of balance. He will take all the blame, Fox will get no blame, nor attention over their possibly discriminatory contracting practices. If Fox is let off the hook, so should Smollett, if Fox is not left off the hook,, then at least Smollett messed up for a good reason. Right now he has become everybody's bad guy while the Fox in the room goes unscathed.
Harriet Miller, the quitting as a form of protest does not work well in the U.S. Once someone is out of the limelight, they can be forgotten very quickly. I'd give you plenty of examples except that I have forgotten their names.
Erik, We are talking four seasons into the show. The problem with being paid only 20,000 per episode for the first year is that small incremental raises still look like large percentage raises, so as time went on Smollett fell further and further back. There was no make good for Smollett as the seasons accrued to make up for the low initial salary.
So it's ok that Fox paid an HIV spreading, Drug using, Prostitute Cavorting Actor more money for ONE half an hour episode than Fox paid Smollett, a co star of a show that produces episodes that are twice as long, was the number one rated show on the same network, over the first 54 episodes he was on? That is not fair consideration. If Fox had been even remotely fair, then Smollett does not suffer from financial abuse. Imagine being a screenwriter and being offered 50,000 dollars for a script, then the pictured grosses 200,000 million, would that be fair consideration?
After a catastrophe stores are not supposed to raise their prices even though the demand definitely causes the existing value of remaining supplies to increase. The point is that if Smollett had acted out in the first or second season he would be in the wrong. But now they were finishing season four. And the low pay scale could harm Smollett's future earnings as well since he will be labeled as a low pay actor based on what Fox was paying him. My point remains the same, I think it is wrong to only judge Smollett, Fox needs to be evaluated as well to see what is going on with how they pay Minorities and Women versus Caucasian Actors. It's not even about pay equity, its about pay levels that are so far apart one has to wonder why.