The Hollywood Pay Gap: Sony Hack Reveals Jennifer Lawrence Was Paid Less Than Male Co-Stars

Another day, another update from the Sony hacking scandal and this time, the A-list victim is our beloved Jennifer Lawrence.

The Daily Beast has reported that the hacked emails from Sony Pictures contain details of American Hustle's cast's wages. Apparently, in comparison to their male co-stars Jennifer Lawrence AND Amy Adams were paid less. 2% less to be precise. Eh?

The emails, which reference the percentage of film profits each actor receives, shows that there was an original dispute for J-Law to match Amy Adams’ pay which has then spilled over into a request for equality across all of the cast. (Um, duh!)

An email from Andrew Gumpert, President of Business Affairs and Administration for Columbia Pictures to Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Amy Pascal reads:

“Got a steve warren/gretchen rush call that it’s unfair the male actors get 9% in the pool and jennifer is only at 7pts. You may recall Jennifer was at 5 (amy was and is at 7) and WE wanted in 2 extra points for Jennifer to get her up to 7. If anyone needs to top jennifer up it’s megan. BUT I think amy and Jennifer are tied so upping JL, ups AA.”

Ok, it gets a little bit confusing but the below is pretty clear:

Forget which actor will be drawing the biggest audience to the film cough J- Law why would it EVER be ok to pay women less then men for doing the same job?

The silver lining of this latest hack is that it highlights the ingrained, illogical pay gap, which extends to heights of the Hollywood elite. Now the facts have been exposed, will Sony be forced to deal with this issue? We hope so.

We’re taking our fight for Equal Pay to Parliament TOMORROW to try and change the law. Email your MP TODAY to vote yes to Equal Pay Transparency #EqualPay.