Asian ‘Hawaii Five-0’ stars quit over ‘biased’ pay offer
LOS ANGELES: CBS has come clean on the abrupt exits of fan favourites Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from “Hawaii Five0”.
Kim and Park, who were both original series regulars for seven seasons, departed after the network and producers CBS Television Studios could not offer them the same deals as white co- stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan.
“Daniel and Grace have been important and valued members of ‘ Hawaii Five- 0’ for seven seasons,” CBS said on Wednesday in a statement. “We did not want to lose them and tried very hard to keep them with offers for large and significant salary increases. While we could not reach an agreement, we part ways with tremendous respect for their talents on screen, as well as their roles as ambassadors for the show off screen, and with hopes to work with them again in the near future.”
In a heartfelt post on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Kim disclosed that he wanted to return for “Hawaii Five- 0”’s upcoming eighth season, but after asking for salary parity with co- stars O’Loughlin and Caan, CBS and CBS Television Studios could not come to terms that worked for both stars. Sources note the duo’s offer came in less than that of O’Loughlin and Caan, who both have a cut of the show’s lucrative backend deals.
A CBS insider stressed that supporting actors Kim and Park’s contract dispute had nothing to do with race. Kim, the source stressed, was offered a raise to come within two per cent of what Caan and O’Loughlin make — minus the duo’s lucrative points of the show’s back end.
Meanwhile, negotiations with Park were complicated by the actress’ desire to only do a handful of episodes and be written out of the show. But the CBS source noted a substantial increase was still offered to her.
In a note on his Facebook page, Kim thanked fans, the cast, crew and creative team and singled out how important playing Chin Ho was: “As an AsianAmerican actor, I know fi rsthand how difficult it is to fi nd opportunities at all, let alone play a well- developed, threedimensional character like Chin Ho. I will miss him sincerely. …though transitions can be difficult, I encourage us all to look beyond the disappointment of this moment to the bigger picture. The path to equality is rarely easy.”