Chris Rock Weighs In On Jennifer Lawrence's Pay Gap Essay

Chris Rock has said Jennifer Lawrence would have even more of a pay gap to complain about if she was a black actress.

Jennifer has been a vocal critic of the pay gap for women in Hollywood, after discovering via the Sony hack that she and costar Amy Adams were paid less than their male costars Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Christian Bale in American Hustle. Penning an essay in Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter, Jennifer wrote that she was disappointed in herself for not pushing for higher pay out of fear it would make her seem unlikable. “'I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard” Jennifer wrote.

“Black women have the hardest gig in show business, you hear Jennifer Lawrence complaining about getting paid less because she's a woman - if she was black, she'd really have something to complain about,” the comedian told The New Yorker for a profile on Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones.

Chris Rock made his comments while discussing the rise of comedian Leslie who was hired by SNL last year as a writer, before quickly becoming an on-air performer and cast standout. Before being cast on SNL, Leslie performed on the road for 25 years and struggled to get her big break. She filmed her own comedy specials, but grew frustrated at being pigeonholed as a black comic. Chris who also cast Leslie in his film Top Five, which he also wrote and directed last year told The New Yorker he finally convinced SNL boss Lorne Michaels to give her a shot when the show began looking for African-American women cast members amid an outcry over the show's lack of diversity. After impressing in her audition, Leslie was hired as a SNL writer at the age of 47, before quickly being promoted to on-air performer and becoming an audience favorite. “I mentioned her to several managers and agents over the years, everybody passed. Lorne, because he's the best at what he does, is the one who saw it. I don't think he'd hired a cast member her age in a long time” he said.

Leslie will also star in the Ghostbusters reboot, with Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and her fellow SNL cast member Kate McKinnon. The film is set for release in the US on July 15, 2016.