Ellen Pompeo’s “astonishingly candid” interview exposes Hollywood’s misogyny when it comes to equal pay

The Daily Beast

The Grey’s Anatomy star’s chat with The Hollywood Reporter is “surprising in that few performers of any gender have ever been this frank and this specific about the terms of their salaries and negotiations,” says Kevin Fallon. He adds: “Speaking with the candor, not to mention shrugging profanity, that gave Pompeo line-cutting passes to the VIP section of the ‘Celebrities We All Want to Grab Drinks With’ party, she reveals her ambitions as an actor (more specifically, her lack thereof), the neglect of male allies, the bleak reality for women in Hollywood, and the explicit notion that because she’s a woman she didn’t deserve an excessive payday—despite being the lead of her show. At a time when gender pay equity is one of the more visible lightning bolts in the thunder storm of industry conversations about the treatment of women and minorities, Pompeo just became Zeus of the cause. (And if former Grey’s co-star Patrick Dempsey gets a little electrocuted in the aftermath, well, bitch should’ve aligned himself with the Goddess Pompzeus when he had the chance.)”

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• Actors everywhere, take note: This is how you do an interview
• 10 remarkably candid quotes from Pompeo’s interview