Jennifer Lawrence’s Sexism Open Letter Gains Support From Hillary Clinton, Bradley Cooper, More

Jennifer Lawrence’s open letter on sexism and the alleged wage gap between men and women in Hollywood is gaining traction. It seems that inequality is getting a spotlight because Jennifer has the popularity and celebrity status to make the world listen.

Lawrence isn’t the only one to speak out on sexism in the industry and the gap between what men and women are paid. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Salma Hayek also pointed out that women only earn 10 percent of the income, even though they represent a majority of the work force.

The subject hits so close to home for Lawrence that the Inquisitr also reported she dropped out of The Rosie Project to prove her point. As an actress known for such memorable roles as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Mystique in the last two X-Men films, she can probably afford to turn down roles. Jennifer Lawrence feels that strongly about sexism in Hollywood.

Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton applauded the actress on Twitter.

Brava, Jennifer. It’s hard to speak up against inequity and risk being unpopular—but equal pay matters for us all. http://t.co/g29cRkq5ln

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 16, 2015

As one of Donald Trump’s biggest adversaries, this was possibly a convenient chance for Hillary to support women’s rights. After Trump’s war of words with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, he’s been backpedaling rather hard in support of women.

The Sony hack had unearthed a pay discrepancy from American Hustle, after which Jennifer Lawrence decided to write her essay, which was featured in Lena Dunham’s newsletter. The essay revealing Hollywood’s sexism included the following excerpt, reported by Vanity Fair.

“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d***s, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need. (I told you it wasn’t relatable, don’t hate me). … I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion.”

Among those “lucky people” were Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper. All of them have had success with pivotal roles recently, but it was the latter who spoke up in support of Lawrence, “She worked everyday on that movie and got paid nothing. It’s really horrible actually, it’s almost embarrassing. She should have been paid more than everybody.”

Sadly, Vulture reports how Sony co-chair Amy Pascal countered the dispute revealed in Jennifer Lawrence’s essay on sexism and the wage gap, “I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money.”

The fact that a woman said those words may only enrage those fighting for better pay, like Jessica Chastain, who revealed how little she was really paid for her role in The Martian, according to the Huffington Post.

“I’ve actually never said this, I think, so here we go: There’s also misinformation out there. Like someone wrote an article once that said I made a certain amount of money for The Martian. I made less than a quarter of that in reality. And so people are already saying, ‘Well, she’s making a lot less than her male co-stars because she’s making this.’ I made less than a quarter of that in reality, so there is a huge wage gap in the industry.”

Chastain added that she feels relieved that men are joining the fight and women are speaking up, and equality might actually become more prevalent in coming years if the conversation continues.

How do you feel about Jennifer Lawrence’s reveal of sexism and a wage gap in Hollywood?

[Feature image via Kevin Winter / Getty Images]