Catt Sadler left E! News when she discovered that her male co-host Jason Kennedy was being paid twice as much as her. Now, she's dropped a couple hints that she might be pursuing legal action against the network.
During an interview with Maria Menounos on her SiriusXM show on Thursday, Sadler had some choice words for her former employer. "By the way, there is something called...the [equal] pay act," she began. "It is unlawful to discriminate, it is sexual discrimination, so you better believe that people are going to say on the record what protects them in a certain, particular instance."
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The day after she left E! News, Sadler shared a post on her personal blog explaining why she left. In summary, when her contract came up for renewal she took this newfound insight into her salary negotiation and asked for more. "My team and I asked for what I know I deserve and were denied repeatedly," her blog post read. She later explained to People, that the network's counteroffer was "not even remotely close" to her co-host's salary.
"It’s almost insulting because you know you work really hard. I’m a single mom of two kids. I’ve given my all to this network. I’ve sacrificed time away from my family and I have dedicated my entire career to this network. And when you learn something like that, it makes you feel very small and underappreciated and undervalued," she shared with People. "It’s heartbreaking."
A NBC executive released a statement when the news first broke defending the gap in pay between the two co-hosts saying that their roles were different which necessitated different salaries. "Catt was focused on daytime. Jason Kennedy is on primetime evening news, plus red carpet," the statement read. "Our employees' salaries are based on their roles and their expertise regardless of gender."
"Wait so are you suing E! for this?" Menounos asked Sadler on her show. "Because you can." Sadler responded to her former colleague by simply saying, "Not today."
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