While Being Interviewed By E! News, Debra Messing Called Out E! For Unequal Pay Wages

A defiant Debra Messing took on E! News for failing to pay equal wages to male and female correspondents, and she did so while being interviewed by E! News.

While on the Golden Globes red carpet, according to The Wrap, the Will and Grace star pointedly called out E! on behalf of Catt Sadler, the former co-host who departed the network back in December after it was discovered she was being grossly underpaid in comparison to Jason Kennedy, another E! News host.

“I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I miss Catt Sadler, and so, we stand with her,” Messing said to E! mainstay Giuliana Rancic.

Messing, like many other stars, was dressed in all black to show solidarity to Time’s Up, a movement set up to protest sexual assault in Hollywood, along with the #MeToo campaign. Messing also spoke at length about the movement to Rancic.

“I am wearing black to thank and honor all of the brave whistle blowers who came forward, shared their stories of harassment, assault, and discrimination,” Messing claimed.

“I’m wearing black too, to stand in solidarity with my sisters all over the globe, and I’m here to celebrate, the roll out of this incredible movement, Time’s Up. Time is up and we want diversity, we want intersectional gender parity, [we want] equal pay.”

Many of the Golden Globes attendees also wore pins created by the Time’s Up movement to show support, according to People. Likewise, some guests brought along female advocates as their dates for the evening, including Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, and Michelle Williams, the latter of whom brought along Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo campaign and a gender racial service advocate.

Ms. Burke and the other advocates expressed in an official statement that each of them had made it their life’s work to speak out for sexual harassment victims and women as a whole.

“As longtime organizers, activists and advocates for racial and gender justice, it gives us enormous pride to stand with the members of the TIMES UP campaign who have stood up and spoken out in this groundbreaking historical moment. We have each dedicated our lives to doing work that supports the least visible, most marginalized women in our diverse contexts. We do this work as participants in movements that seek to affirm the dignity and humanity of every person.”

The Golden Globes will air Sunday night on NBC. Debra Messing’s comments about Catt Sadler can be seen below.