Actress Michelle Williams used her Emmy acceptance speech Sunday night to highlight pay inequality. After winning best “lead actress in a limited series or movie” for “Fosse/Verdon,” Williams thanked those who hired her on the series for paying her equally:
“They understood that when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value and then where do they put that value, they put that value into their work. So the next time a woman, and especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart, tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her listen to her, believe her.”
This.
Bravo, Michelle Williams.#EqualPay #BelieveHer https://t.co/qeVEPKPQIt
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 23, 2019
Can #MichelleWilliams get an Emmy for her #Emmys speech?! She is such an inspiration! 🙌🏼https://t.co/To1nnaXAV8
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) September 23, 2019
Williams became outspoken on pay inequality after it was revealed a huge pay gap between her and co-star Mark Wahlberg on the 2018 film “All the Money in the World.” The New York Times writes:
For 10 days of reshooting, they were both paid a per diem of $80 — but Wahlberg received an additional $1.5 million. Wahlberg and his talent agency (which also represented Williams) made a $2 million donation in Williams’s name to a fund that aims to fight pay inequality.
Take a look at what Williams said about all this after her speech last night above.