Fans want Angela Bassett’s name kept out of internet games as a viral post attempting to shade her decades-long career has been met with pushback.
Bassett, 66, is among Hollywood’s revered screen gems but also someone whose talents have gone under-appreciated, according to her supporters. A Twitter user highlighted that much when they called out the pay gap between Bassett and Robert Downey Jr., 59.
Both actors are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Bassett starring as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and Downey starring as Tony Stark in the “Iron Man” and “Avengers” films since 2008.
In a surprise announcement in July, he revealed that he would be rejoining the MCU —following the death of Iron Man in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” — as Dr. Doom in upcoming “Avengers” movies.
On Aug. 26, Culture Crave reported that Downey is believed to have secured a $100 million payday for his appearances in “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” The nine-figure deal comes three months after Marvel laid off a combined 15 people from its development and production departments. The trimming of personnel preceded 140 people being laid off in July by Disney, Marvel’s parent company.
Disney laid off 7000 employees in February but today found an extra $330K laying around for a full time Crisis PR person.🥴 pic.twitter.com/rvoI8yOyoi
— Todd Spence (@Todd_Spence) September 1, 2023
A fan taking notice of the substantial difference in pay tweeted, “Angela Bassett was only paid $350,000 for her Oscar-nominated performance in ‘Wakanda Forever,’ of which most of us can agree she was snubbed. What exactly does RDJ bring to the table that requires over 200x that amount of money?”
Bassett, a Yale University-trained actress, has appeared in over four dozen films and been nominated for over 100 awards, including two Academy Award nominations for her roles in “Wakanda Forever” and “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
A general consensus among fans is that she was snubbed the golden statuette with both losses. In January, she received an honorary Oscar at the 14th annual Governors Awards. The “Tropic Thunder” actor also nabbed an Academy Award at the annual ceremony for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Oppenheimer.”
But someone unaware of Bassett’s many accomplishments — or at the very least, who wanted to provoke outrage — controversially replied to the tweet with, “Who is Angela bassett?”
That’s not the flex you think it is, and I also disagree with OP. Not knowing legends of the craft just shows your age.
— Bubby (@ethan_ring) August 26, 2024
A user responded, “A great actress… she starred in many movies and really knows how to become the character she’s playing and lay out the emotions” Someone else stated, “That’s not the flex you think it is, and I also disagree with OP. Not knowing legends of the craft just shows your age.”
The original poster witnessed the discourse attempting to discredit Bassett unfold and offered up a thread of subsequent tweets further clarifying their point. For instance, they wrote, “To stir the pot a little bit, remember that Cosmo article? Angela Bassett gets paid 450k per 1hr episode if 9-1-1. With the deal RDJ had secured he’s earning $416,667 PER MINUTE across two movies.”
Bassett made history in 2021 when she became the highest-paid Black actress for her starring role on the FOX series “9-1-1.” She reportedly banked $450,000 per episode of the drama, for which she also serves as an executive producer.
“Only 350k wtf?! I thought she would be paid millions by now,” said one person, while another replied, “Right?! She’s a literal icon, wtf are you doing here Disney.”
When asked about the compensation, she shied away from confirming the money. However, she told The Guardian, “One of the things I said early in my career is: ‘I want to work consistently, and I want to be paid fairly.’ I think that’s what all of us longed for and, if and when that happens, it’s a good day. And I hope that it paves the way for equity for others. That’s my desire.”
Angela Bassett shares the “supreme disappointment” from not winning the Oscars last year. Jamie Lee Curtis ended up winning her category. 🤐🥲 pic.twitter.com/vdwlPTut08
— Vince (@vincentlao18) March 7, 2024
Amid the outpouring of fans who defended against naysayers who downplayed her acting chops against Downey’s, the original poster wrote, “I just wanna point out that the main reason I brought up Angela Bassett is because she is the ONLY MCU actor nominated for her role in an MCU film (both of which are the only MCU films to actually win an at least one Academy Award).”
The poster added, “My ultimate point is that people are underappreciated and underpaid regardless of how well they do their jobs. If we can afford to give RDJ yet another role & 100M, then we should be upping the salaries of every creative behind the scenes and in front of the camera too.”
