Last week, we learned that Malaysian writer Adele Lim had dropped out of the “Crazy Rich Asians” sequel over pay disparity. Director Jon M. Chu is finally weighing in on the controversy.
In case you didn’t know, Adele was initially offered US$110,000-plus compared to her white male co-writer Peter Chiarelli, who got somewhere between US$800,000 to US$1 million.
Adele felt like she was being used by Warner Bros. to “sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay”. That meant she would never get paid what she deserved. Director Jon M. Chu (who personally hired her) released a statement on his social media, acknowledging her situation but ultimately admitting that his hands are tied.
It’s more than the issue of a white man getting paid way more than an Asian woman, but also the value of work experience versus life experiences, or “TV vs. film writing”. Feel free to read his lengthy message here:
https://twitter.com/IAmNotABot7/status/1171244467564756992
https://twitter.com/adeleBlim/status/1170731236014186498
Having said that, Adele has stated in her tweet that there is no bad blood between she and Jon, saying, she has “only love” for the filmmaker and the “Crazy Rich Asians” family.
