Following an essay penned by actress Jennifer Lawrence where the Joy star talked about the gender pay gap and its alarming disparities, the letter sparked comments from her fellow actors, namely Chris Rock.
The award-winning entertainer revealed that “Black women have the hardest gig in show business,” which was prompted by a profile of Saturday Night Live‘s member Leslie Jones. Within The New Yorker article, Jones discussed her elongated rise to fame and landing on the sketch comedy show after Rock recommended her to the program’s creator, Lorne Michaels.
Rock later continued, “You hear Jennifer Lawrence complaining about getting paid less because she’s a woman — if she was black, she’d really have something to complain about.”
Jones also touched on SNL‘s prior lack of featuring black comediennes on the NBC late night show, and revealed that she had a conversation with her castmate, Kenan Thompson, who shared a few controversial comments on the matter. “I came at him, like, ‘I heard what you said, motherf***er,’” she said. “He said, ‘Come in, close the door, let’s talk.’”
In a prior interview with TV Guide, Thompson said SNL had difficulty finding a black comedienne to join the cast because, “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready. It’s just a tough part of the business.”