Grace Park has spoken about her highly-publicised exit from Hawaii Five-0 last year.
The actress, who played Kono Kalakaua in the hit CBS drama, departed along with Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly) after seeking pay equality with their white, male co-stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan.
The final offer put forward by CBS was said to be between 10% and 15% lower than what O’Loughlin and Caan were earning. In addition to the salary disparity, O’Loughlin and Caan already have bonus back-end deals.
Kim addressed his departure at the time, stating that “the path to equality is rarely easy”.
More than one year later, Park has given her side, telling Entertainment Weekly: “CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue.”
She added that while she was reluctant to speak out publicly during the off-screen drama, she said that she did not appreciate a tweet in which showrunner Peter Lenkov appeared to suggest that her exit was down to wanting to spend more time with her family.
“I let him know, ‘That wasn’t cool that you made a statement on my behalf’,” Park explained. “I know he did it to be helpful, and I care about Peter as a person, but I didn’t leave for that reason.
“There were a number of factors spanning the show that affected the non-renewal of my contract. I’m grateful for the lessons learned, but I chose what was best for my integrity.”
Hawaii Five-0 airs on CBS in the US and on Sky One in the UK.
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