Amy Schumer has responded to claims she “demanded” equal pay to Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle for her Netflix special.
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The Leather Special was filmed at the Bellco Theatre in Denver in November 2016 and was released onto the streaming service in March of this year.
Yesterday (August 23), it was reported that Schumer’s team had demanded she be paid the same as what Rock and Chapelle were compensated for their own Netflix specials. Schumer was originally offered $11 million (£8.6m) while her fellow comedians were paid $20 million (£15.6m)
As Us Weekly reports, Schumer posted her response on her Instagram page. “Thanks for chiming in on what you feel I deserve to be paid,” she wrote. “I believe women deserve equal pay. However I don’t believe I deserve equal pay to Chris and Dave.
“They are legends and 2 of the greatest comics of all time. I would like to say that I have been selling out arenas these last couple of years. Something a female comic has never done. That’s a big deal to me, especially because I know I do my best every night on stage for the audience and they have a good time.”
She confirmed that she did ask for more than the initial offer Netflix made to her, adding that she would “continue to work my ass off and be the best performer I can be.”
“The reports of me “demanding” or “insisting” on equal pay to them aren’t true,” she concluded, adding the hashtags “#fat” and “#stealsjokes” to her post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux-x1GnUuqY
Last year, Schumer became the first female to make it into the annual list of the world’s highest-paid comedians.
Schumer was fourth in Forbes’ Top 10 Highest-Paid Comedians list, having earned £13m from her comedy between June 2015 and June 2016.
She was behind Kevin Hart at number one, who earned £67.2m, followed by Jerry Seinfeld (£33.4m) and Terry Fator (£16.1m).