Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin have clarified remarks they made in May regarding their salaries on Netflix series “Grace and Frankie.”
“We made a joke in an interview about our salaries which was taken out of context,” the actresses said in a statement to TheWrap.
In May, the actresses revealed during a press event for the comedy that they found out they were making the same salary as their male co-stars Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston — even though the two women are the leads on the show, with their characters’ names in the title, and their co-stars are supporting players.
“That doesn’t make us happy,” Fonda said at the time.
“No. The show is not ‘Sol and Robert’ — it’s ‘Grace and Frankie,’” Tomlin added.
One month later, the conversation over the pay disparity is still going so strong that fans have taken to starting online petitions asking Netflix “to remedy the pay disparity between Tomlin and Fonda and their male supporting actors.”
“This just reminds us to be mindful of how things come across in interviews,” the actresses continued in the statement clarifying their remarks. “We appreciate everyone’s support and the attention to this issue, but the structure of ‘Grace and Frankie’ is fair, and we couldn’t be happier to work with Skydance, Netflix and the great cast of this show.”
“Grace and Frankie,” which also stars Brooklyn Decker, Ethan Embry, Baron Vaughn and June Diane Raphael, has already been renewed for a second season.
The show is produced by Skydance Television for Netflix. Executive producers for the series are Kauffman (through her company Okay Goodnight), Morris, Paula Weinstein, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross, as well as Fonda and Tomlin.