Debra Messing wasn’t the only actress that took E! to task over equal pay during a live interview on the Golden Globes red carpet Sunday night.
Eva Longoria, flanked by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, also expressed solidarity with former E! host Catt Sadler during her interview with network correspondent Ryan Seacrest. Sadler quit the network last month after she said the company refused to pay her the same as male co-host Jason Kennedy.
“Time’s up. We support gender equity and equal pay, and we hope that E! follows the lead with Catt as well,” Longoria said, as she gestured toward Seacrest. “We stand with you, Catt.”
Messing similarly confronted E! about pay inequality during her Golden Globes red carpet interview with the network. The actress was explaining the goals of the Time’s Up initiative when she brought up Sadler.
“Time is up,” she told E! correspondent Giuliana Rancic. “We want diversity, we want intersectional gender parity [and] we want equal pay.”
“I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-host the same as their male co-host,” the “Will and Grace” star added. “I miss Catt Sadler. So we stand with her. And that’s something that can change tomorrow. We want people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men.”
Sadler announced her departure from E! News on her website late last month, explaining that she quit after discovering Kennedy had been making nearly double her salary for years.
“How can I operate with integrity and stay on at E if they’re not willing to pay me the same as him? Or at least come close?” Sadler, who had been with the network for over a decade, wrote.
In response, E! told HuffPost the network “compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender. We appreciate Catt Sadler’s many contributions at E! News and wish her all the best following her decision to leave the network.”