‘My rights have been violated’.
E! host Catt Sadler has decided to leave the station due to a large pay gap between her and a male co-host.
Sadler, 43, shared the news on her website today as she stepped down from her hosting duties with the station.
Sadler presented E! News on the channel alongside long-time colleague, Jason Kennedy, and also presented the new live show, Daily Pop.
Speaking of the decision today, Sadler said her experience at the entertainment station was “creatively challenging but genuinely one of the most fulfilling years of my professional career.”
However, it was when the longtime host discovered the major difference between her wages and that of a male co-host, she decided to leave.
“Coincidentally, around this same time an executive from E! brought something alarming to my attention – namely, that there was a massive disparity in pay between my similarly situated male co-host and myself,” she said on her website.
“More recently, when E! reached out to renew and extend my deal, I learned that he wasn’t just making a little more than I was. In fact, he was making close to double my salary for the past several.”
Sadler went on to reveal that she and her team made repeated attempts to re-negotiate her wages to no success.
“It was my desire to stay at my job. To continue entertaining our loyal viewers around the world. To keep working alongside some of the best writers, directors and producers in the game.
“Unfortunately, however, my decision was made for me and I must go.”
Sadler said she hoped her post would encourage readers to have the confidence to know their worth when it comes to wages and use that knowledge as power.
“I have two decades experience in broadcasting and started at the network the very same year as my close friend.
“How can I operate with integrity and stay on a E! if they’re not willing to pay me the same as him? Or at least come close?
“How can I accept an offer that shows they do not value my contributions and paralleled dedication all these years?”
Sadler did not name any particular person in her lengthy post, however, it is being assumed by many that she is talking about her current co-host, Jason Kennedy.
However, she went on to ask followers not to think negatively of him, rather the system that would let it happen.
“It’s important that people don’t vilify him because he isn’t the problem — the system’s the problem, the structure’s the problem,” she says. “And I really do mean that. Because that’s been a hard part of this whole thing because I love him dearly.
“And to be honest, he has been such a champion for me in every sense. But it’s not his decision.”
