The five leading stars on the hit show, The Big Bang Theory, are taking pay cuts so two of the other stars can get an increase in pay.
The show may be ending in the next season or two, and the five leading stars, Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg, will be earning $1 million per episode. They are taking a $100,000 pay cut, so two of the other stars, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, can get an increase in pay. They currently make $200,000 per episode.
This will bring Bialik and Rauch’s paychecks up to around $450,000 per episode. However, they are seeking to get equal pay to that of their co-stars.
These negotiations for the 11th and 12th seasons of the Emmy Award-winning series began last year, but the salary details are being negotiated now. Bialik and Rauch joined the show in the third season, but their characters have become integral to the story.
Male stars of Big Bang Theory to take pay cut so women are paid more https://t.co/90H3bqYe21 pic.twitter.com/aujg5LRZnx
— DRINK REAL CIDER (@DRINKREALCIDER) March 2, 2017
The CBS network has not issued any comments yet.
The three biggest cast members, Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki, began earning $1 million per episode in 2014.
This is not the first time actors on a comedy have earned so much. The cast members of Friends were earning $1 million per episode by the end of the series.
Two of the cast members, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, were earning more than their co-stars. However, they took pay cuts, and all six main cast members negotiated their salaries together. They went from earning $22,500 per episode in the first season to $1 million per episode in the last two seasons.
The actor who played “Joey,” Matt LeBlanc, said this about it at the time when asked if they are worth it:
“It’s like, well, that’s irrelevant. Are you worth it? How do you put a price on how funny something is? We were in a position to get it. If you’re in a position in any job, no matter what the job is — if you’re driving a milk truck or installing TVs or an upholsterer for a couch — if you’re in a position to get a raise and you don’t get it, you’re stupid. You know what I mean? We were in a position and we were able to pull it off. ‘Worth it’ has nothing to do with it.”
Featured image via Twitter.
