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Catt Sadler Denies NBC Claims That Jason Kennedy Had Bigger Workload: We Were ‘Apples to Apples’

Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler attend the 5th Annual Night Of Generosity at Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler attend the 5th Annual Night Of Generosity at Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.Michael Bezjian/WireImage

Catt Sadler has shut down claims that her former E! News cohost Jason Kennedy had a bigger workload and therefore a heftier salary.

“My experience, frustration and disparity was based on Jason Kennedy and myself being apples to apples. We came to the network at the same time and did similar jobs,” the TV personality, 43, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Wednesday, January 10.

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“For people to use the argument that Giuliana [Rancic] somehow made more money than Jason, that comparison doesn’t work,” she continued. “They’re apples and oranges. She joined before him, she was managing editor, she had multiple shows on the network. It’s unfortunate that people who don’t work there are trying to be the voice for the network. The only story I can tell is my truth and the truth speaks for itself.”

The interview was published one day after NBCUniversal executive Frances Berwick claimed during a Television Critics Association panel that Sadler and Kennedy, 36, had “different roles and therefore different salaries.”

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Us Weekly exclusively revealed on December 19 that Sadler made the decision to leave the network after 12 years over a pay disparity with Kennedy. “She doesn’t blame Jason, and Jason feels horrible about the discrepancy in salary,” a source told Us at the time. “He loves Catt so much and was just as upset as she was to find out that she was being paid so much less. He thinks she will do amazing at whatever she does next and that E! made a big mistake.”

The former Daily Pop anchor later claimed in a blog post that Kennedy “was making close to double” her salary “for the past several years.” In response, E! told Us that the network “compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender.”

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Now that she’s between jobs, Sadler is focusing on herself. “The beauty of a brand-new start is that I can take my own story,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve had 20 years of interviewing celebrities and reporting on pop culture. I’m comforted by the fact that people have reached out to me and want to meet with me. I am thrilled with that. In this weird sense, I feel like I have an obligation to do work and represent the many voices who don’t have an audience. Between #MeToo, Time’s Up and the general climate right now, I would prefer to use my voice in a way that could create content that has never been made before.”

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