Gabrielle Union: BET lawsuit is ‘about respecting talent’

Gabrielle Union is done being disrespected.

The Being Mary Jane star filed a $3 million lawsuit against BET after the network decided to shoot two seasons back-to-back, allegedly breaching her contract without additional compensation.

Or as Bevy Smith put it, the channel cut her “coinage.”

Union spoke about the suit this week on Bevelations, saying that even though she loves her job, she didn’t hesitate to call her lawyer for the sake of everyone working on the series.

“It’s bigger than me. It’s about respecting talent. I’ve heard from so many people across the board, people at BET, people at other networks where talent has not been respected, financially, creatively and just saying thank you, you know?” she said. “Because, a lot of times, we’re so afraid of standing up for ourselves out of a fear of not getting more opportunities. Or, you spend more money on a lawsuit than you make, and most of us can’t afford that. It’s disappointing more than anything, but I will stand up for my cast and other casts. I’ll go broke doing that. I hope it doesn’t come to that because we have such talented people.”

On Oct. 12, BET released a statement saying they were “committed to reaching a swift and positive resolution.”

Now, a few weeks after that statement, Union told Smith, “There’s movement. There’s always negotiations. But for me, I don’t want to be like, ‘thank you for my deal’ [if] the cast isn’t being taken care of and respected.”

“We’re not asking for anything more than you would give other talent,” she added. “We’re just hoping you respect talent of color the same way you respect other talent.”

Bevelations airs live weekdays fro 5-6 pm ET on SiriusXM Radio Andy (Ch. 102).

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