Petition asks Matt Smith to donate salary difference to Time’s Up

Following the revelation that The Crown star Matt Smith makes more than his co-star Claire Foy — who plays the Queen herself, for heaven’s sake — a public petition has called on Smith to donate the difference to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.

The news made waves last week when it was confirmed that Smith initially made more than Foy, ostensibly because the former was a higher profile name at the time.

While it was promised that going forward in the series there would be pay equality, many are calling on Smith to level the field himself.

The petition, initiated by Rebecca G on Care2 (a social network for activists), has already received 26,000 of its 30,000 signature goal. While it may seem unlikely that a petition would compel Smith to comply to its demands, a similar petition was put forward calling on Mark Wahlberg to donate his reshoot salary for All the Time in the World.

The reports at the time indicated that Wahlberg received 10 times more than co-star Michelle Williams. In the end, he donated that salary, plus an extra $500,000 from his agency WME.

And while a lot of people may dismiss the pay disparity between people who already make obscenely high salaries, Rebecca G. makes an excellent point regarding the importance of calling out the situation.

"“I believe that publicly addressing high-profile cases of sexism will also help create greater opportunities for all women — in all careers.”"

Next: Martin Freeman says Sherlock not fun anymore

Interestingly, Netflix — the streaming service that airs The Crown — just gave out pay raises to their stars of Stranger Things. Millie Bobby Brown received a pay raise that is higher than all her young male co-stars, so maybe things are starting to change — at least for Netflix.