Mark Wahlberg donates $1.5 million after pay gap controversy

NEW YORK: American actor Mark Wahlberg announced on Saturday he would donate $1.5 million (1.2 million euros) to a legal fund for victims of sexual harassment following a controversy over the massive pay gap between him and a female co-star.

Ridley Scott partially re-shot his latest movie, “All the Money in the World,” after Kevin Spacey was fired due to sexual misconduct allegations, with both Wahlberg and Michelle Williams called back to act opposite Spacey’s replacement, Christopher Plummer.

Williams was reportedly paid less than $1,000 while Wahlberg made $1.5 million for reshoots on the film.

“Over the last few days my reshoot fee for ‘All the Money in the World’ has become an important topic of conversation,” Wahlberg said in a statement.

“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,” he said.

The Time’s Up initiative was unveiled by more than 300 major actresses and female writers, directors, agents and other entertainment executives earlier this month.

It aims to tackle pervasive sexual harassment in workplaces, calling special attention to abuse in less-than-glamorous blue-collar jobs.

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“We fervently urge the media covering the disclosures by people in Hollywood to spend equal time on the myriad experiences of individuals working in less glamorized and valorized trades,” the group said in a full-page ad in The New York Times.

The initiative caps a year in which the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal touched off a deluge of allegations that brought down powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media, prompting companies, government agencies and even the US federal court system to re-examine harassment policies.