The Crown: Matt Smith responds to pay gap disparity with Claire Foy

It’s been about month since The Crown started making headlines when it was revealed that Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, was paid more than the star of the series, Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Smith finally spoke about the controversy at the Tribeca Film Festival and stated that he supports Foy.

“Claire is one of my best friends, and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all. I support her completely, and I’m pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that’s what needed to happen. Going forward, I think we should all bear in mind that we need to strive to make this better and a more even playing field for everyone involved — but not just in our industry, in all industries.”

This can be seen as great news for fans of the acclaimed series. Smith has been silent about the ordeal since it broke and even after fans started a petition demanding that Smith give the difference of pay between him and Foy to the Time’s Up movement. It is unclear if Smith ever did this or not, but enough people signed it for the petition to get traction by the media.

In other good news, Left Bank Productions, who produces the series, did apologize to both Smith and Foy.

“We want to apologize to both Claire Foy and to Matt Smith, brilliant actors and friends, who have found themselves at the center of a media storm this week through no fault of their own. Claire and Matt are incredibly gifted actors who, along with the wider cast on The Crown, have worked tirelessly to bring our characters to life with compassion and integrity.”

In addition, Left Bank released a statement stating that they were not aware of who gets what and cannot be held responsible for the situation.

“As the producers of The Crown, we at Left Bank Pictures are responsible for budgets and salaries; the actors are not aware of who gets what and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues. We understand and appreciate the conversation which is rightly being played out across society and we are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias, and for a rebalancing of the industry’s treatment of women, both those in front of the camera and for those behind the scenes. We all have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that these issues are tackled, and as a leading production company we want to make our contribution to the debate. As company policy we are engaged in conversations with ERA 50:50 and going forward are keen to talk to Time’s Up UK, organizations which are working to ensure all women have a voice.”

Whether or not you choose to believe Left Bank’s reasoning, going forward executive producer and creative director at Left Bank Suzanne Mackie stated “going forward, no one gets paid more than the queen.” Let’s hope they keep their word.

The Crown is in pre-production for its third season with Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies will take the reigns as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

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This article was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at SAM_iamXO. (Photo: Netflix.)