Salma Hayek is getting real when it comes to battling sexism in film. Speaking at the Variety and UN Women's panel discussion on gender equality during the Cannes Film Festival, the actress was not holding back in her critique of the industry and the challenges women face, on screen and off.
"For a long time they thought the only thing we were interested in seeing were romantic comedies," she said when asked about female audiences, according to TIME. "They don't see us as a powerful economic force, which is an incredible ignorance."
When it came to discussions of gender on screen and getting paid less than her male counterparts, she continued: "It's simple, plain ignorance. They think the only value we bring to a movie is as an object. The only kind of film where women make more money than men is porno. It's not funny."
But according to Hayek, getting more females in the industry is only half the battle. The other half is fought with the purchase of movie tickets and number of streams.
"Our pay can never go up because we never get the opportunity to show what we can bring in revenue. We can't stand as victims and say we need to make them aware of women. Because guess what? They don't care," she said, according to The Telegraph. "There's only one thing that inspires the people and the power in the industry, and that's money. They have to understand how powerful we are economically."
Boom! We just hoped she dropped her mic after that one.
