Sarah Silverman Offers Club Owner An Apology Over Equal Pay Dispute
The club owner that Sarah Silverman called out in a video to promote equal pay for women is getting paid back with an apology, sort of. As part of the #Ask4More campaign sponsored by the the Levo League, Sarah made a promotional video recalling a personal experience when she claimed she was the victim of unequal pay in the comedy workplace. In the video, she specifically named the then-owner of the New York Comedy Club, Al Martin, as the man who paid her less for the same work as comedian Todd Barry.
Martin who now owns the Broadway Comedy Club, went on Facebook and completely disputed the account that Sarah Silverman had given. He explained that Sarah was there for a guest spot and Todd Barry was a booked performer and that of course there would be a pay difference. He was doing Sarah a favor.
Sarah Silverman isn’t saying Martin was right; she says she does not dispute Al Martin’s recollection of that night 15 years ago. But she says she remembers it differently. The apology is for singling him and his club out in the video. Her statement about Martin which was published on Salon.com.
Sarah Silverman writes:
Oh goodness. All I can say is I remember that story exactly how I said it. I know that Todd called the club earlier in the day to let them know I was in town if they wanted me to do a set. They put me up for a 15 min spot just after Todd’s 15 min spot. I didn’t expect to get paid, that’s not why I was there, but when I got off stage Al, the sweet club owner, paid me 10 bucks and I signed the payment sheet. I was like, oh, nice. I inferred from that that this was a paid spot not a guest spot. Either way I would have been fine. Then when Todd pointed out that he received 60 dollars for the same spot I went back inside and asked Al why Todd got sixty dollars and I got ten. That’s when he certainly could have said “Because it was a guest spot, Sarah. I was just being super nice and gave you ten dollars for cab money.” But instead, (and I will always remember this exactly how he said it because it was unbelievably hilarious) he said, “Oh- did you want a $60 spot?”
My regret is that I mentioned Al by name- it should have been a nameless, faceless anecdote and he has always been lovely to me.
This is also HARDLY an example of the wage gap and can only do that very true reality a terrible disservice if I were trying to make it one. When I was interviewed by Levo, they asked me “Do you remember a time you were paid less for the same job” and this story, being just that, popped into my head. To Al, I truly am sorry to bring you into this as you employ women and pay them the same as the men I’m sure. To the maniacs who want to use this as a chit against women’s issues, I ask that you please don’t. Because that would be super shitty. Feel free to aim your vitriol at me but leave this issue of working women out of it, K?
The end
Emilio Savone, who is the new owner of the New York Comedy Club was not around 15 years ago when the Sarah Silverman – Al Martin incident happened, and didn’t want to get involved in a dispute he knows nothing about, but he did want to get involved in what he considers a great cause. This week, Savone hosted a “70 Cents on the Dollar” show at his club on Tuesday. The night was to bring awareness to the #Ask4More campaign and benefit Equal Pay Day 2015 and featured comedians Bonnie McFarlane and Chris Distefano on the bill. Silverman didn’t mention Savone in her statement.
