The fight for equal pay is far from over…
As we reported in December, Catt Sadler announced she was leaving E! after learning cohost Jason Kennedy “was making double [her] salary and has been for several years.”
According to an US Weekly source, the female journalist made “about $600,000 per year,” while her male counterpart raked in “around $1 million a year, maybe $1.2 million.”
Related: Jennifer Lawrence & Jessica Chastain Support Catt Sadler!
On Thursday, Sadler appeared on SiriusXM Stars‘ Conversations With Maria Menounos where she spoke to her former colleague about the controversy.
Overall, the 43-year-old — who worked at the company for 12 years — feels “taken advantage of” considering she was “an ideal employee” who was “pretty damn good at [her] job.”
The Indiana-native exclaims:
“I almost felt a little naive that I was being taken advantage of… I had been there for more than a decade ├óΓé¼┬ª I was an ideal employee, and by the way I think pretty damn good at my job, to then find out that I was, and again this isn’t just a little less for me, it was half, it just was insulting, I guess.”
Last month, Frances Berwick, president of NBCUniversal Cable‘s Lifestyle Networks, defended E! saying Sadler and Kennedy “had different roles and therefore different salaries.”
In response, Sadler tells Menounos:
“I know that from a network standpoint, [Catt and Maria] were positioned a lot ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ even when you were there as a trifecta├óΓé¼┬ª Then you leave and two people are side by side as kind of like the male and female of this network. You can’t say that we have ‘different roles’ and he has some kind of expertise that I do not… I didn’t have to defend myself because the people who watch that network and have for 10 years are going ‘Uh, next excuse’ because that didn’t work. To me it was actually like ‘Are you watching your own network?'”
The broadcaster then mentions how it is illegal for an employer to pay an individual less because of his or her gender.
“By the way, there is something called the equality ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ the pay act├óΓé¼┬ª it is unlawful to discriminate, it is sexual discrimination, so you better believe that people are going to say on record what protects them in a certain, particular instance.”
When asked by Menounos if she’s going to sue E! “because [she] can,” Sadler responds:
“Not today.”
Despite what people may think, Sadler continues to defend Kennedy against any wrongdoing, and always has love and respect for her former cohost.
“Jason had to do what Jason had to… I always, always have stood by his side and he’s always stood by mine. I’ve said it from day one, I don’t know how many times I’ve said it in the press, how many different ways I’ve said, ‘This has nothing to do with him, this has everything to do with me and the gross disparity.’ Jason was always a champion of mine.”‘
In fact, she believes he may have gone to the network to fight for her pay.
“I believe so, yes. That’s why, proactively, I made such a point of saying, ‘This isn’t about him.’ By the way he has his own family and by the way he deserves every dime he’s making ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ without question! This isn’t that he didn’t deserve that much, it’s that I deserved as much.”‘
WATCH the interview (below):
[Image via FayesVision/WENN.]
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