TV Star Salaries Reveal Pay Gap Between White and Minority Actors

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the cast of The Big Bang Theory, the popular sitcom now in its 10th season, are the highest paid actors on U.S. television. Their last round of contract negotiations in 2014 played out like an episode of a Ryan Murphy drama and resulted in key players Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki now earning $1 million an episode—matching what the Friends cast earned in that hit comedy’s final years.

What is a surprise, and a problematic one at that, is that so few minority actors seem to be making the same amount of money as their white counterparts in data uncovered by Variety and published Tuesday.

Behind Cuoco and company are Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, the stars of Netflix’s Gilmore Girls revival, who earned $750,000 for each of the four instalments set to premiere in November. They’re followed by the likes of veterans, such as Mark Harmon (NCIS) , Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) and the Game of Thrones cast on the drama side who all fall in the $500,000-plus-an-episode range. On the comedy side, The Simpsons’ voice cast command upward of $300,000 an episode and Netflix is throwing similar money at movie stars Drew Barrymore, Emma Stone and Jonah Hill to take on series roles. Great for them, but where are the people of color?

-Read more at Newsweek