“I would like to say that I have been selling out arenas these last couple years. Something a female comic has never done,” Amy Schumer wrote in an Instagram post yesterday. “That’s a big deal to me.” She’s right: That is a big deal. Period. So it’s no surprise that the comedian used her success to negotiate with Netflix for better pay for “The Leather Special,” which debuted earlier this year. Variety originally reported that Schumer demanded that the streamer pay her the same rate as Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle — $20 million per standup special. She had originally received $11 million.
“Schumer’s team went back to Netflix and flatly asked for more money,” Variety writes. “She received significantly more compensation after she raised the question of fairness relative to the Rock and Chappelle deals.”
After the story was published, many people assumed that Schumer had demanded Netflix also pay her $20 million. Since Schumer is a woman, she was criticized for daring to ask to be treated the same as Rock and Chappelle.
“Thanks for chiming in on what you feel I deserve to be paid,” Schumer wrote in response to the backlash, per Vanity Fair. “I believe women deserve equal pay. However I don’t believe I deserve equal pay to Chris and Dave. They are legends and two of the greatest comics of all time.”
Still, Schumer did use Rock and Chappelle’s salaries as a negotiation tactic, in addition to her popularity as a comic. “I did ask for more than the initial offer,” the “Trainwreck” star concluded. “I will continue to work my ass off and be the best performer I can be.”
Schumer has previously completed specials for HBO and Comedy Central. You can catch her next in “Thank You for Your Service,” a drama about a group of soldiers trying to re-acclimate themselves to civilian life, in theaters October 27. The “Snatched” actress is also attached to Rebecca Miller’s next film, “She Came to Me,” which tells two overlapping love stories. Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein’s “I Feel Pretty,” in which Schumer stars as a woman who wakes up one day with unbelievable self-confidence, is scheduled to open June 29, 2018.
