Actress Ellen Pompeo dished on the double standard surrounding building a multi-million dollar fortune as a woman during her appearance on Call Her Daddy.
This week the Grey’s Anatomy star joined Alex Cooper on her hit podcast Call Her Daddy where she opened up about her experience filming the hit medical series, becoming the highest paid woman on TV, and overcoming double standards. But their discussion did not sit well with many viewers at home as many argued Ellen and Alex shared a “white girlboss take” on the issue that some felt had nothing to do with gender.
Alex kickstarted the discussion as she asked Ellen about her $20 million salary being publicly shared with the world. Recalling the controversy, the actress shared: “My manager at the time said something to me that literally hit me like a brick, he said ‘Are you ready to be unpopular?'”
She continued: “I was like ‘What do you mean?’ and he said ‘Well I just don’t want you to think that everyone’s going to go in and cheer for you and clap for you and bow to you and think that you’re the dopest thing ever because there’s going to be a lot of people who are not happy for you.’ And that had never occurred to me. It’s hard for people to celebrate other people and if they have something that resembles something that they want.”
Alex Cooper angered viewers as she compared Ellen’s wealth to tech billionaires
Ellen dished on the public perception of her $20 million salary
To which Alex argued: “Men just do not experience this level of scrutiny when it comes to money. Jeff Bezos and Elon and Trump and all of these men get to just f—— s— money in front of our faces and everyone thinks it’s hot and powerful and then the minute we get any of it – not even in ballpark – and if we’re just lightly getting into the conversation it’s like ‘she doesn’t deserve it’ either she’s a b—–, she found a way to maneuver it, she’s not worth that, and it’s a lot.”
Ellen nodded in agreement and added: “And it’s patriarchy and it’s misogyny. What helps me to take myself out of it is to stop thinking about myself and what people think of me and just focus on what I do best which is the work. When you make a lot of money as a woman let’s face it you have power, right? So then how can I take that power and do good with it? How can I amplify someone else?”
And while the pair felt that it was an unfair double standard that exists, many viewers did not same the share mindset. On a newly posted Reddit thread, one person wrote: “‘Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk s— money and everyone thinks it’s hot!’ This is such a white girlboss take. People talk about the fact that Bezos and Musk are evil billionaires who don’t deserve their money bc billionaires shouldn’t exist ALL THE TIME. People said as much before Musk started a hostile fascist takeover of the US and before Bezos started curbing the free press.”
Ellen was the highest paid woman on TV after her leading role in Grey’s Anatomy (Image:
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Ellen aired out her complaints over double standards when it comes to wealth (Image:
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
They continued: “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Ellen Pompeo is anywhere in the same stratosphere as Bezos and Musk, like… not even close. But I can’t take Alex Cooper’s remark seriously. I always roll my eyes when the best that white women can muster to defend themselves is, ‘Well, but white MEN get away with it!’ So much of white feminism really just boils down to wanting to get away with as much as white men do.”
A second person added: “Poor widddle baby has to deal with the burdens of extreme wealth. I don’t know who the wretch is but f— her like all the rich elitist bastards. And where the f— did she get this idea that no one hates Musk or Bezos?”
While a third user chimed in: “I mean I think part of the problem at the time was that two of her pretty popular women co stars were unceremoniously fired so it seemed like they were let go to pay her bloated salary. IDK why would people would want to celebrate this post strike tbh, like she does not do anything on this show to merit this. Meanwhile plenty of hard working people on the same set can barely make ends meet.”
