Benedict Cumberbatch Won’t Take New Roles Unless Studio Agrees To One Thing
Thank you, Benedict Cumberbatch.
Using his white male privilege, Cumberbatch is going to hold strong on an equal pay for women – by saying he won’t take the role offered to him if the women won’t get the same pay.
Benedict told Radio Times the following, not only when it comes to himself, but urging other male actors to do the same:
“Equal pay and a place at the table are the central tenets of feminism,” and “Look at your quotas… Ask what women are being paid, and say: ‘If she’s not paid the same as the men, I’m not doing it.'”
Cumberbatch has also opened a production company, with one other man named Adam Ackland. The pair’s company, SunnyMarch, are the only men in the company as of right now, and wants to turn attention to “women-centric” projects. He’s looking to use his name to get investors, and then add that to female projects.
Other actors in the past have taken this route, including William H. Macy standing up for Emmy Rossum for not getting paid the same as him for ‘Shameless,’ and Jessica Chastain has aligned herself with Octavia Spencer, saying that she, as a white woman, should be getting paid the same as Octavia, a black woman. Black women are often underpaid from their white female counterparts, so we still have a long way to go between gender and race.
