After drawing fire for reportedly negotiating a $1.5 million payday for participating in reshoots for All the Money in the World while his costar Michelle Williams worked for a per diem totaling less than $1,000, Mark Wahlberg has announced he’s donating the money to the Time’s Up legal defense fund in Williams’ name, Variety reports. The reshoots were necessary to replace disgraced actor Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer, and while Williams agreed to work for nothing in order to save the film, Wahlberg got paid. People should be compensated for the work they do, whether they’re movie stars or lowly crew members, but Williams wasn’t told Wahlberg was getting paid, and the same agency, WME, negotiated both Wahlberg’s deal and Williams’ non-deal.
Now, in an attempt to set things right after becoming a go-to example of the gender pay gap in Hollywood, Wahlberg is donating his paycheck to Time’s Up, Hollywood’s institutional response to the post-Weinstein era. The organization’s legal defense fund is explicitly designed to provide support to the kind of blue collar workers who don’t make headlines when they get harassed or paid less than their male coworkers, so this seems like a surprisingly just outcome. Wahlberg explained his thinking in a statement:
Over the last few days my reshoot fee for All the Money in the World has become an important topic of conversation. I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I’m donating the $1.5M to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams’ name.
In addition to Wahlberg’s donation, WME—arguably the worst actor here for favoring the interests of one client over another—is donating $500,000. That’s on top of the $1 million they had already pledged when the fund was announced, and more than they made from their cut of Wahlberg’s fee. “The current conversation is a reminder that those of us in a position of influence have a responsibility to challenge inequities, including the gender wage gap,” the agency explained in a statement. Meanwhile, Williams responded with a gracious statement crediting Anthony Rapp—whose allegations against Spacey brought about the actor’s downfall—for speaking out to begin with:
Today isn’t about me. My fellow actresses stood by me and stood up for me, my activist friends taught me to use my voice, and the most powerful men in charge, they listened and they acted. If we truly envision an equal world, it takes equal effort and sacrifice. Today is one of the most indelible days of my life because of Mark Wahlberg, WME, and a community of women and men who share in this accomplishment. Anthony Rapp, for all the shoulders you stood on, now we stand on yours.
