According to Deadline, Catt Sadler has quit her position as an E! News host after discovering that she was being paid about half of what her male co-host, Jason Kennedy, was making. Sadler had been with E! for years, appearing on TV since 2006 as a host of The Daily 10 and then E! News. This year, she also became the host of Daily Pop, a two-hour daytime show, and an E! executive informed her of the “massive disparity” in pay around the time she took on that gig. Shortly after that, E! reached out to renew her contract, and she decided to fight.
In a lengthy post on her personal site, Sadler adds, “My team and I asked for what I know I deserve and were denied repeatedly,” saying that E! refused to take into account her “two decades experience in broadcasting” and the fact that she started at the network in the same year as Kennedy—who she refers to as a “close friend and colleague that I adore.” Sadler also points out that she’s a single mother of two boys and that she wanted to stay at her job, but she knows women won’t be able to “invoke lasting change” if they don’t “speak their truth” and fight for equality.
Sadler also posted a little message on Twitter, and Kennedy shared a farewell video in honor of her final E! News appearance yesterday.