Executive Producer Janet Mock Says ‘F– Hollywood’ at ‘Pose’ Premiere: ‘Why Am I Making $40,000 an Episode!?’
Janet Mock is tired of the BS in Hollywood and she sure let that be known at the Season 3 premiere event of “Pose” Thursday night in New York.
According to Page Six and the Daily Beast, the executive producer and bestselling author gave an emotional 15-minute long speech and went complexly off-script, calling out Hollywood and even series co-creator Ryan Murphy, according to reports. “This is what Pose taught me: I stand up taller in the world because of this show. I know that I matter because of this show. I have a voice because of this show.” She continued: “I was happy because I had to be happy. Because if I wasn’t happy the girls wouldn’t know that happiness is possible. I’m hurting y’all. I see injustice and it hurts me inside.” Mock then reportedly revealed she was only paid $40,000 an episode, adding: “Do you know who the f*ck I am? Why am I making $40,000 a motherf—ing episode? Huh?” she asked, calling for compensation in line with that of other producers. “I am angry. This is truth. This is motherf—ing truth.”
She then reportedly called out the quality of writing in the show’s early episodes, reminding Murphy that he brought her and fellow writer-producer Our Lady J onto the show “to help.” “F–k Hollywood … Does this make you uncomfortable? It should. It should make you f–king shake in your motherf–king boots. This is speaking truth. This is what ‘Pose’ is,” Page Six quotes. Mock then apologized to composer Our Lady J — a producer and writer on “Pose” — and said she’d tried to diminish her to “make myself bigger.” Mock reportedly said, “I f–ked up, y’all. I forgot who the f–k I was. They want me to come up here and pretend,” she said. “I don’t need Hollywood, honey. You know why? Cuz I’m f–king free.” Elsewhere in her speech, sources told the news site she apologized to boyfriend Bismark Curiel, who she admitted she had cheated on during the show’s production with another crew member:
“Today, I was gonna let [Angel] go,” she continued. “I was gonna let you go, right, but what did I do? I f*cked someone on the crew, right?” She went on to say, “Angel, Angel. I’m not losing you. You hear me? You are fucking important to me,” Mock continued. “I don’t want to live in a house alone. I want you. You motherfucker. Right there. That’s who I want. I’m getting what’s mine.”
Before turning her attention to the industry at large, Page Six notes that Mock provided some inspirational words for cast members — including Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and the show’s lead, MJ Rodriguez.
Before concluding she said, “It’s a show, but it means so much to everyone to ‘ensure that we enable black and brown trans women to make it’ because that sounds good,” she said sarcastically. “It makes you comfortable to talk like that because then I don’t scare you into facing the f–king truth. You all have stomped on us.”
Although her speech was met with great shock, the news site notes that her message was well received, with Jackson, who shouted from the audience, “Thank you for speaking for me!”
“Pose” season 3 premieres on FX this Sunday.
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