A few weeks ago, E! News correspondent, Catt Sadler, announced she was leaving the network after a decade of work, owing to a “massive” pay gap between herself and her male co-host Jason Kennedy. “How can I operate with integrity and stay on at E if they’re not willing to pay me the same as him?” she wrote in a statement at the time. “Or at least come close?” Well, Debra Messing is fully apprised of Sadler’s situation, and went so far as to call out the network’s treatment of Sadler while on the red carpet at this year’s Golden Globes ceremony — while speaking with Giuliana Rancic on E!’s red carpet. “I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I miss Catt Sadler, and we stand with her,” Messing said. “And that’s something that can change tomorrow. We want people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men.” Rancic didn’t respond to the comments.
Later in the red-carpet coverage, Sarah Jessica Parker, Laura Dern, and Eva Longoria also made brief and heated comments while interviewed on E! about Catt Sadler’s departure — some without mentioning her name directly. “We need the powers that be and all the industries and networks and E! to help us with closing this pay gender gap,” Dern told Ryan Seacrest alongside her date for the evening, activist Monica Ramirez. “50/50 by 2020.” Parker, meanwhile, opined to Seacrest how she knows pay inequality has “affected your network.” She added: “Parity, equality and safe work environments shouldn’t be controversial. And it’s across all industries.”
Longoria, appearing near the end of the network’s coverage, was by far the most blunt with her opinions. “We support gender equity and equal pay and we hope E! follows that lead with Catt as well. We stand with you Catt,” she said, while Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman nodded approvingly.
