These “Pretty Little Liars” Actors Revealed That The Men On The Show Were Initially Paid More Than The Women Per Episode, And It’s Sparked A Conversation Around Blatant Misogyny
Whether you’ve seen Pretty Little Liars or not, I’m sure you’re aware that the series centers on a group of female characters. These characters are played by Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, Troian Bellisario, and Sasha Pieterse.
The hit show aired on Freeform from 2010 until 2017.
However, despite the leading cast being entirely female, former PLL actors Sasha and Tammin Sursok recently revealed that the show's men were initially paid more than the women per episode.
Some of the men who starred in the show were Tyler Blackburn, Keegan Allen, and Ian Harding.
Earlier this month, Sasha — who was just 12 years old when she first appeared on the show as Alison DiLaurentis — appeared on the Pretty Little Liars: True Crime podcast, hosted by Tammin and fellow former cast member Lindsey Shaw. Tammin played Jenna Marshall, while Lindsey played Paige McCullers.
The trio wound up discussing the pay disparity between the male and female actors, with Sasha revealing that the men earned more than them per episode.
Tammin then revealed that it wasn’t until the show’s fourth or fifth season that the women banded together to request a pay increase.
“They all went in together to go and get a pay raise. Because once you’ve been paid, you pay your manager, your agent, your lawyer… Then you pay $5,000 for your publicist, and then tax… You’re getting, like, 30% of what you make,” she said as she broke down their costs.
Sasha later revealed that while she now earns residuals from HBO Max, she earned nothing when the series began streaming on Netflix. Tammin said she did consistently get residuals.
Reacting to the podcast episode on X (formerly Twitter), several fans expressed their shock that the men on PLL initially earned more per episode than the women.
“now there is no fucking way… the show was about the girls? they were the leads???? what the fuck,” one popular tweet read, while several other people went on to discuss the blatant “misogyny.”
“That’s crazy considering the men on that show BARELY got screen time ????” one person wrote. “I can’t wrap my head around this. Like wtf you mean men made more money when all the girlies were the lead,” said another.
“they were literally on the fucking show cover how does that even happen???” someone tweeted, while one more person added, “this is crazy considering the men were literally fillers and the show was about the girls.”
You can watch the full podcast episode here.
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