Hollywood star Salma Hayek said Sunday that male stars will have to take pay cuts if they are serious about equality for women.
The Mexican-born actress, a leading voice in the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, said highly-paid male stars would have to make sacrifices. "It is not just the producers" who have to change if the huge pay gap is to be closed. "It is actors too," she said. "Time's up. You had a good run but it is time now to be generous with the actresses," she told a Women in Motion talk at the Cannes film festival.
"If actors ask such inflated fees it will leave nothing for actresses. If the movie's budget is $10 million, the (male) actor has to understand that if he is making $9.7 million, it is going to be hard for equality," Hayek added. "Otherwise they will kill the movie," she warned.