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LeBron James stepped up in a big way to help Academy Award wining actress Octavia Spencer get equal pay in project for Netflix. The star NBA player served as Spencer’s sponsor in pay negotiations for a biopic about the self-made African American trailblazer in the beauty industry, Madame C.J. Walker.
Spencer and James make a powerful team as executive producers of the project. She says he used his influence as a mega million dollar B-ball star to make sure that she got paid equal to her male counterparts.
She told a crowd at the Sundance Film Festival:
“I have to say when I was negotiating my deal for ‘Madam C. J., LeBron James had to intervene. So we need all our male counterparts to be in the fight with us.”
There are no women of color on the Netflix leadership team, according to Diversity Inc.
James has been a consistent advocate for Black women. He said in a statement. “As someone who has a platform, because of what I do, I thought it was important to lend that platform to a group of people that I believe are under-recognized.”
The series will recount the untold story of how Walker, a black hair care pioneer and mogul, overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and some trifling family to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire.
Meantime, a after a quick check of Netflix’s schedule, no air dates appear on the site yet.
Read more here.
(Source: DiversityInc)
LeBron James Madam C.J. Walker Project netflix Octavia Spencer
