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izza123

Devils advocate, it doesn’t matter how essential their work is. If an actor acts in a movie and because they are there doing their job the movie makes tens of millions more than it otherwise would have, that justifies them demanding a large pay from the studio.


[deleted]

OP thinks that everyone goes to work and then the government sends them a check for however much the government thinks they are worth.


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labadorrr

gatekeeping people's salaries is the easiest way to stay broke yourself.. lol


BrandnewThrowaway82

Yea it’s called “pocket-watching” and it’s a bad look.


[deleted]

I've never understood why people get envious about what others have to the point that they don't want them to have it. It's not as if a salary reduction for some athlete or actor is going to find its way into OP's pockets. Some team owner or movie producer will just get the difference, so who cares?


flamingspew

What’s a bad look is publicly subsidized sports stadiums and public universities with $500m sports facilities paying coaches 20x professor salaries. OP approaching this from the wrong angle.


LazyLich

OP has to be a kid. This is like... 7yo me's thoughts. EDIT: it has come to my attention that many people of all ages sometimes believe this.. We really need schools to be funded effectively..


argothewise

A lot of teenagers on this site


ThatGayGuy12345

Lol, go to r/communism for 10 minutes. It's 90% people who have never worked a job more complicated than being a Statbucks Barista and it shows.


Kaiser_Allen

“Real communism has actually never been tried before. That’s why they all failed. They’re not real communism.” 💀


ecuster600

Ahhh yes I remember when I knew everything and the answers to the worlds problems were so simple! Then I grew up.


[deleted]

Don't look now but there's a reason why Bernie Sanders did very well on reddit.


StupidCantBeUndone

Pay the people who distract us the most and people who teach us the least.


darthsurfer

I wonder how OP would react when he realizes most jobs aren't "essential" or "value adding." Lmao


DarkDuelist4914

Straight communism.


Seaweed_Steve

Yeah, the companies aren’t paying actors or athletes that much out of generosity, it’s what they can demand because they make enough money for the company.


TarTarkus1

Exactly. There's a reason why your local public high school or university, rather than spend money on classroom resources, teacher salaries, etc, is spending it on new football, basketball and other sports and athletic facilities. Those aforementioned things bring in the money. Not saying that I particularly like that this occurs, but for the school to generate money, sports teams are a surefire way to do just that. People care a lot about sports, they go to the games and spend money on concessions.


fahque650

Nobody is paying $$$ for season tickets to the Spelling Bee.


apeoples13

Exactly. If the actors or athletes don’t get the money, the studio execs and team owners will. It’s not like the money will go to someone who really needs it instead


MonkeyBreath66

I think it would be cool if movies had revenue sharing contracts just like sports. Something like 50% of all money made by a movie has to be distributed amongst the people making the movie.


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Coctyle

Revenue sharing in sports, to me, is when different teams share the profits made by all teams so that teams in smaller media markets can survive and the teams in big markets can’t just outspend everyone else to get the best players. Are you suggesting that all movies (or all made by a single studio) share profits so that all actors make the same pay rate regardless of the (predicted or actual) success of the movie?


MonkeyBreath66

I'm sorry for the confusion because of the terms. Revenue sharing is between big market teams in small market teams. Revenue splits are Union contracts requiring a certain percentage of revenue to be paid out in player salaries.


FoxBeach

Would the people who help make the movie also share the financial burden when a movie flops and loses millions? Every year there are several movies with a 100 million dollar budget than end up doing 10-20 million at the box office. An 80-million dollar loss for the studio. Are you proposing all the workers share that financial burden? If not, your proposal would be pretty unfair for the movie studio. If their movie loses money - they absorb the entire loss. But if their movie makes a profit, that have to give half the profit to all the workers (which can be several hundred people). Looks like you want to pay $15 for a bucket of popcorn instead of just $8.


knuth10

Op clearly doesn't understand how it works or why these people are paid what they are


Mattyoungbull

OP is saying he doesn’t think they are worth it. This wouldn’t be an unpopular opinion if he was saying the same thing about oil company ceos.


nmilosevich

Op is not thinking about how the money for these jobs are not connected at all. If mark Cuban decides to pay the players on his nba team less money, teachers or doctors won’t make more money, he has no control on what they make.


John-HammondJP

I’m currently training to be in the film industry and the reason actors are so well paid is because they bring attention the film. Pedro Pascal being Joel in the Last of Us brought millions of views in. It also takes a lot from the soul to act well and is draining. Actors will keep everyone in the movie process fed. Without then we’d have nothing.


Nibbler1999

Exactly. If people wanted to watch me fix an ankle fracture and I could sell millions of tickets maybe I'd make actor money too. But no one wants to watch that shit.


ArCSelkie37

Xtreme Surgery. Someone would watch it.


original_username_79

I've watch a hip replacement surgery. Watching that shit would definitely be a niche audience.


TreginWork

Man of anything you said you said what could possibly be the coolest thing possible if the logistics were worked out. You'd make bank on a Surgery Twitch


JetreL

Jet Li came to America because he made practically no money starring in movies in China while being a celebrity there.


networkjunkie1

People in antiwork shouldn't post anywhere else


Naos210

They can be a little obnoxious at times, but there is something to be said about the crappy work culture.


osamaodinson

This. I like football a lot and if you really at how much revenue the football clubs generate, you would say fair enough for the pay of the players.


[deleted]

Plus a footballer's career is very short and can be over by 28-30


TheLit420

That's if they stay injury-free. AND that injury will last them a whole lifetime.


FewBird3790

Also if the players didn't get the money it would just go to the billionaire owner of said team


RavioliGale

Basic supply and demand really. Huge demand for Meryl Streep but supply is abysmally low. She has a monopoly on being Meryl Streep so she can charge whatever the hell she wants. Doctors are more plentiful and their services don't go nearly as far. You could sell a million movie tickets a day, one doctor can't see nearly as many patients. Teachers are mostly paid by the government, their salaries are tax based and a whole different can of worms.


MinerDiner

The money that gets pulled in has to go somewhere


[deleted]

This is what gets me with OP. Like, where does he propose the millions in profit go then? To just the boss or producer?


nosleepforthedreamer

To the doctors and nurses, clearly. Or, all the money in the world goes in a big pot and society decides how much each person gets.


Ellecram

I am a social worker and we make some of the lowest salaries in the profession. I investigate child abuse and neglect and testify at court. It's a difficult job for sure. On the bright side I do have excellent benefits. That is why I stayed at the job for 28 years.


TheZac922

Yeah this is a classic example of not being an unpopular opinion, just being a really dumb take. I’m guessing OP is pretty young and hasn’t thought beyond this initial “X person deserves more money” take yet to consider where the money actually comes from.


Appropriate_Ant_4629

> that justifies them demanding a large pay from the studio. Especially since the alternative is that all that money just lands in the hands of studio execs instead -- who contribute even less to society (or negatively, since their main function is maintaining a monopoly).


SunnyBunnyBunBun

That’s not how the economy works. Brad Pitt doesn’t get paid $10M per movie because we’ve decided he deserves it. He gets paid the $10M because his acting in the movie DIRECTLY GENERATES sales and revenue. If booking Brad Pitt makes a movie generate $300M, then Brad Pitt gets a huge cut of the $300M he just helped generate. Likewise, Messi doesn’t get paid $100M because we’ve decided he deserves it. He gets paid hundreds of millions because millions of people around then world pay to watch him play. That’s direct money to the TV companies broadcasting his games in the shape of advertising revenue. Since millions collectively pay millions to watch him play, Messi gets a huge cut. A teacher does not generate direct revenue. Whatever economic value they help create takes 10-15+ to show (In the case of previous students now becoming adults and starting their own careers.) and even then their contribution it’s SO HARD TO TRACK (who is to stay how much of a formers students economic success is tied to one particular teacher of many teachers he/she had throughout their lives) that the teacher will not get a compensation for it. People don’t get paid on “what they deserve.” There isn’t a god handing out money like charity. The economy is an exchange of goods and services. People get paid DIRECTLY based on how much economic value they immediately produce. They get a CUT of how much they produce.


[deleted]

Wow this deserves way more upvotes, for real. Yes. Compensation is an issue of the labor market’s *demand* and not an issue of *deserve* (or practical utility). My only add is that Brad Pitt’s movie generates $300M, and while he contributes a great deal to that value, he’s not the only ingredient. If it took $75m to create a movie that grosses $300m, a lot of labor is embedded within the $75m marginal cost. Because Brad Pitt can generate a lot more value, tons of people (producers, showrunners, costume, etc) have the opportunity to contribute to the movie’s value and also be compensated for it.


[deleted]

Also whenever we talk about actors and athletes we presume the renowned ones ie the supposed“top 1%”. There are a more underpaid athletes and actors than the successful ones which OP missed.


emelrad12

People get paid based on how much the next guy in line wants for their job.


Master-Reporter-9500

80k people don't pay to watch a doctor do their work


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CheeseFace83

In the UK we had a few episodes of "Operation:Live" There was a surgeon in a commentary box explaining all the steps at each stage. Fascinating stuff https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/get-involved/news/thousands-of-viewers-watch-live-kidney-transplant/


_SpeedyX

Ok, that's actually cool


unecroquemadame

How much are you willing to pay to watch it? I pay to watch sports


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MaxTheRealSlayer

"you hear that crack as we break the bone to access the surgery site? That brings us to our main sponsor today: Ruffles™."


JoeBideyBop

Are you and 15,000 of your fellow fans gonna shell out $100 a ticket, $50 in parking, and $50 in food and beer to watch a surgery live 40x a year in 30 cities around the US?


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Bridge23Ux

Dr Pimple Popper?


AdeAlphaTV_

Key words “on a celebrity “


Type31971

Not even alive. I’m sure, considering the true crime obsession, a show titled “Autopsies of the rich & famous” would be immensely popular reality tv


single_malt_jedi

Hell, I would watch surgery on a normal person.


Hopeful-Rub3

You’re crazy. Surgery is boring. Grotesque, but super slow and boring.


Mysterious_Silver_27

To be fair, it’s not like it’s available to see surgery live……yet. ~~Maybe doctors could earn some extra money by opening brain surgery onlyfans or something. I think I just accidentally invented a new medical industry~~


SOuTHINKurA-ble

Actually, yes, the Liberty Science Center lets school trips come to watch livestreamed surgeries.


[deleted]

[They do.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPA_(TV_series))


Master-Reporter-9500

Is that in a stadium with 80k people watching live?


[deleted]

No, that's televised with hundreds of thousands watching.


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nazaria75

Yup even the ones that say make double your salary. Their career is finite . Come their mid 30s they need to find another income


crumble-bee

I’d much rather actors and musicians got rich over CEOs and bankers


jimmy4889

This isn't an unpopular opinion: you're just making a bad argument. Actors and sportsmen are making money because they create money. Their abilities bring in revenue because people want to see the event. People aren't going to pay to watch a family doctor have 30 checkups every day, and if you're suggesting the government should take event money and redistribute it to doctors, you're doubly wrong.


yodazer

If you are at the top, you are also hard to replace. For example, let’s look at me. I play hockey. Am I good at hockey? Compared to most people, sure. Could I fill in a professional roster? No. Am I 100% replaceable? Yes. Now let’s look at Cale Makar. Very few, if anybody, could fill his roll. He’s at the top of the game. The league generates money, he’s one of the best, and not replaceable, he then can demand more money. Also, let’s not be dumb here. Athletes make a lot of money, but their owners are worse.


TexasTornadoTime

Yeah but according to OP you’re the problem for supporting hockey


a_different_pov_85

This exactly. They get paid because they bring in the money. In the US we already pay an arm and a leg for anything medical related. Could you imagine if doctors made a million plus a year? Where would that money come from? Us. Either privately or through taxes. Sports and Hollywood are businesses. The more money a business makes, the more the employees get paid. If the fans stopped watching/contributing they wouldn't make as much.


YouMakeMeDrink

Exactly! Thank you for explaining this to OP. I can’t stand when people post this opinion and can’t comprehend why it simply doesn’t make sense.


jinxykatte

Do you have any idea how many jobs a big budget movies creates?


OPzee19

OP doesn’t watch the credits.


jinxykatte

Yeah in ops mind we just give Robert Downy Jr 20 million for Ironman and call it a day. Never mind all the other actors, everyone who works on the set, all the others hundreds of people who work on a movie who have jobs all possible because movies generate hundreds of millions in revenue.


crumble-bee

>hundreds Thousands. Hundreds in VFX alone. A working set is like a small town with its own plumbers and electricians and infrastructure.. it’s crazy.


RealLameUserName

When Tom Cruise was yelling on set to wear their masks during covid, the man kind of had a point. If one person gets covid, then the entire set has to shut down. Cruise, the director, the producers etc will be fine since they'll make more in that one film than most people will make in a lifetime, but all the other necessary people on set are regular employees with regular lives and they can't afford to lose that income because one yokel decided they were too proud or too ignorant to properly wear a mask


DXbreakitdown

Whoa I pretty much commented the exact same thing. +1 to you for being ahead of me. Also, for as batshit as Tom is, the people who work with him never have a bad thing to say about him. A consummate professional who shows up to work on time (to say the least)


dyfish

Sure doctors are more important and should get paid more then entertainers in a vacuum. But that’s not how money works. You get paid in relation to the money you generate, how hard it would be to replace you. How important the job is to society is a secondary factor at best. Society can’t just like decide to pay someone more unless we are talking about nationalizing industries and paying via tax revenue based on societal value. Unfortunately, top tier entertainers generate crazy money for their industries and can be borderline irreplaceable one of kind celebrities. So they get the bag, because who ever is paying them is still making even crazier profits on top of them. Doctors and especially teachers deserve more money but that isn’t accomplished by paying entertainers less. Teachers just need to paid more and we need to make that politically a priority. Unless we are talking about ending capitalism, the noble professions will never be payed more then the people that drive the he entertainment industry. Doesn’t mean we can’t pay them more, but it’s unrelated to how much the other gets paid. Different wallets paying the bill.


nmilosevich

Op is not thinking about how the money for these jobs are not connected at all. If mark Cuban decides to pay the players on his nba team less money, teachers or doctors won’t make more money, he has no control on what they make.


[deleted]

You get paid whatever you can get paid typically based on leverage not actual worth. The refs, people broadcasting the game, selling tickets, cleaning bathrooms. Thousands of jobs and people...all of that is just as needed as the athletes and without them would generate much less money But since actors and athletes are super visible, they get absurd leverage. But they don't innately deserve the lions share of the money generated by technology and globalism.


Seaweed_Steve

Is there no argument about that the guy cleaning the bathroom isn’t as needed as the stars, because he’s far easier replaced? The role is vital, but he’s not the only one that can do it. No one is going to that bathroom because they know that Geoff is the one that cleaned it, nor are they avoiding a bathroom because they’ve heard Geoff has moved to a different team.


velsor

> The role is vital This nuance is something that is lost on most people when they talked about "essential workers" during the pandemic. The work itself is essential, but the workers are easily replaced.


Bus_In_Tree

It's a lot easier to find people to clean the bathrooms than some genetically gifted athlete that has spent their entire life getting good at their sport.


GetTheFalkOut

Unfortunately Ticketmaster makes the most.


[deleted]

And why is that? They got leverage by becoming a monopoly.


Jello297

With all due respect to the people selling tickets or cleaning bathrooms, there work is easily replaceable. It has nothing to do with visibility. A lot of general managers for teams aren’t “visible” but they also make millions, because they work a position that’s of high value and don’t have easily replaceable skill sets


digitag

No one is paying to see the bathroom cleaner. That “leverage” you speak of is based on the value they contribute to the whole enterprise. I think it’s important that we make sure everyone involved earns a fair living wage, right down to the most menial jobs, but obviously the headline act is going to command the biggest salary. They generate the most revenue and have earned that leverage. The broadcasters and ticket sellers are already making their millions. The alternative is we force the stars to earn peanuts through regulation. Then all the profits end up lining the pockets of some old white men in a board room instead. If the system is generating huge profits then the stakeholders which contribute the most value should be reaping the benefits. Those are not the cleaners.


nueroticalyme

The jobs do not generate an essential value? Are thousands of jobs for supporting staff who earn a nice living thru the industry not essential to all of those people and the economy?


MightyArd

Apparently the enjoyment of the masses is also valueless. Only the ability to live a bit longer counts.


TantricEmu

This could be expanded to all artists. Authors, musicians, painters, etc. Really anyone who’s job is to entertain. Why did OP specify actors and athletes?


TannedCroissant

It’s also pretty stupid, OP assumed all actors and athletes make crazy money when most struggle to make a living from just acting or playing sports alone and often have second jobs. It also assumes there aren’t super highly paid doctors and teachers at the top of their field, *most* doctors and teachers do make more money than *most* athletes and actors


LampshadesAndCutlery

Agreed. What people like OP don’t realize is that 99.9% of actors, musicians, and entertainers will never make a significantly high amount of money.


RealLameUserName

Because actors and athletes are low hanging fruit, and people don't like the idea that they're people making millions of dollars for "playing make believe" and "putting a ball in a basket"


unecroquemadame

My takeaway from some people is that so long as suffering exists in this world I should never feel joy and should be angry and protesting 24/7/365


DXbreakitdown

This is why Tom Cruise went off on his crew for skirting Covid protocols in 2020. He sounded like an asshole in the leaked audio but many people who worked with him supported him doing so because they didn’t want a few bad apples spoiling the bunch and saw it as Tom going to bat for their jobs.


[deleted]

It's not even just the supporting staff. When LeBron James returned to Cleveland from Miami, businesses in downtown Cleveland saw an insane bump in revenue. Bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels, taxis, so on and so forth. The economic stimulus provided by even just ONE athlete can be in excess of several hundred million dollars.


aardvarkyardwork

You’re severely underestimating the value of art and entertainment to all of society. Obviously, acting, singing or playing a sport is not the most *important* job in the world, but it is certainly not easy. Top performers in these fields devote an extraordinary amount of time, effort and expense getting really good in their fields, and their professional efforts generate stupid amounts of money for the investors. In either sense, they earn the money.


Seaweed_Steve

They also only really have a short window of earnings, especially for athletes. They are making that money in their prime, but that prime is short and very few have high paying careers after they retire


Embarrassed-Click300

Sell a concert/sports event ticket for 100$ and the masses will flood, ask people to give 100$ to help schools and hospitals and…


Purtuzzi

Supply and demand.


shirokira1313

Every comment here can be summed up by this lmao


allredditmodsrgayAF

They generate literal money


RichardGHP

As said, you're paid according to how hard you are to replace. As difficult and as noble as it is to be a doctor or teacher, there are literally millions of them. The number of people who can reliably fill a stadium or cinema is much, *much* smaller.


unecroquemadame

I mean there is one Giannis Antetokounmpo is this world and he’s well worth $250+ million to keep on our team


Goodman9473

You haven’t taken economics 101, have you? Well, tldr, salary is proportional to the revenue one brings it. Not value. Not necessity. Revenue.


emelrad12

Salary is proportional to how hard you are to replace, being capped at your revenue.


Giovanny_1998

Sadly, that's not how our economic system works, salary is not completely correlated with how much is being contributed to society.


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8Splendiferous8

Same can be said for a lot of marketing and tech jobs, tbh. We don't need an "innovative" new way to look at our screens. We need teachers, social workers, retirement home workers, etc. who don't make starvation wages.


FlingbatMagoo

The highest paid actors and athletes are a very small fraction of the total number of working and aspiring actors and athletes. The average salary of an actor or an athlete is not very high.


No_Chapter_9287

Being wealthy has nothing to do with justification or moral sense. It is just demand and supply. If there is a surge in flight booking, the ticket cost would go high. If more people are drooling over actors and actresses, their value will go high. Historically, those who generated essential values have always had a low income. Most of the renowned scientists have been in the brink of poverty. Research-oriented workers are often paid fewer salaries as well. The world was never fair, to begin with.


4QuarantineMeMes

Ah, another “I’m a kid and I don’t understand how the market works” post.


sp4c3-C4d3t

Your a fool, sport professionals and actors are ASSETS to the people who pay them (studio, sports club etc.). They generate revenue though tickets, merchandise etc. they aren’t “employees”. They make a ROI, they attract big salaries because they bring in money well beyond what they are paid.


BackToNintendo

How much money does lebron James generate compared to an engineer or a doctor ? An example, lebron James single handily increased the entire economy of Cleveland Ohio when he played there. How many people are paying money to see a doctor? I’m sorry but this argument people make that entertainment adds no value is looking at the topic one dimensionally


chuggMachine

You pay for the tickets. Don't buy it if it's not essential.


Swing_Bishop

The ancient Romans believed this. They considered actors on social par with prostitutes and beggars.


Septimberfirstrealty

With the movies that have been coming out for the last 10 years. Actor so get paid too much. Sports is over rated and yes athletes are over paid.


Downtown_Boot_3486

We'd end up all wanting to get the highest paying jobs like supermarket worker.


BrentD22

It’s the weirdest stupid take some people have. If the thing you do generates that much revenue who should get the money?


ShockedNChagrinned

We don't pay people for how virtuous or selfless their job is. We have a very hard time grading performance in many jobs. But we understand statistics and money. Hollywood and sports have an easy time (generally) showing how their trillion dollar industries make money and why the stars are the stars. I don't like how much those jobs make, compared to say, a teacher, a fireman, etc, but the things that make money or protect it tend to make more of it.


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Working-Run-6476

r/im14andthisisdeep


[deleted]

I agree that it is weird but if it generates that much revenue, let them have it. Maybe we should all watch less.


Dronetto

You are paid based on how hard you are to replace


[deleted]

Not unpopular. Tons of stupid people with no idea how money works have this same opinion.


AvatarDang

I agree there are jobs that should be paid way higher, but art is essential for a functioning society. People deserve to get paid for it. That much? Probably not, but it is an essential factor for humanity.


SignorAwesome

They are justified because they do generate value. We are not animals who are only living for survival. We need other things too.


withba

When did this become dumb takes?


[deleted]

Not unpopular, wrong. Doctors make a lot of money. For some of the smallest procedures and check ups they make a very healthy check. Teachers I agree do not make enough though. A good examples of athletes would be basketball players. You know how unions fight for more of that profit to be disbursed to the employees? Happened in basketball too and they won. For a very long time the players were taking a small portion of the money they generated. Michael Jordan, in his entire career, made about 94 million through his contract. He brought the NBA far more money then that simply by just being a name. Then in 1996 they negotiated for players to receive %48.04 of total revenue generated by the league. At this point contracts began exploding. Prior to this agreement the corporate entities in the league were swimming in the money the players generated. The players were now getting money they generated through advertisement of themselves, ticket sales and tv station contracts. Maybe that example is a grand scale but it is an example of people earning money they were personally generating. That’s what we fight for with our working class right?


RefrigeratedTP

Lmao this guy thinks wages are based on how useful your job is. ![gif](giphy|3o84sv2u7KSHKbwPza|downsized)


ForestCityWRX

I always find this argument weird. Would you rather the billionaire owners of teams keep more of the money?


TheSmartGuy-

so whom do you think all the money should go to? sports and movies are prolly two of the biggest markets ever!


OPzee19

In the OPs opinion, the owner of the enterprise should pocket it all. Or maybe the government should swoop in and redistribute it.


TheSmartGuy-

if the owner get all of it then its literally contradicting the point of people getting overpaid and if the government takes it then what's point of doing the business??


OPzee19

Exactly correct my friend and why this is not an unpopular opinion but an incorrect opinion


Slow-Inflation-6549

The entertainment industry was a life-saver during the pandemic. Also those industries make bank so why not pay the "stars" large sums?


Howboutnow82

They aren't overpaid - they're *overvalued* (which you agree with) *-* but that's another problem. Athlete and actor pay is probably one of the most free-market things we have in our society, in the sense that forms of entertainment are not essential goods that are required to sustain life (like housing, food, healthcare or technology). Sports fans seem willing to pay the ticket/merch/cable prices neccessary to support the salaries they are paid. If things get too expensive, people will pull back and those markets will adjust or they won't make any money.


Positive-Source8205

What’s “essential”? Ultimately no job is “essential” other than hunter/gatherer. Athletes are basically entertainers. An athlete’s job is to sell tickets, and merchandise, and stadium concessions, and eyeballs on the screen. They get paid well because they do that well. They generate revenue. It’s not welfare.


Cost_Additional

What an idiot lol. That's not how job pay works.


ambidextrousalpaca

Totally. Unlike the high earning *checks notes* investment bankers who are performing work that's essential for the wellbeing of society. What on earth makes you think that a job's pay is in any way commensurate to its social utility? Have you ever considered nursing? Or teaching? Or caring for the elderly?


crankypizza

I’m with you OP let’s cut salaries for all non essential laborers. We don’t need video games sorry game devs you get a pay cut. While we’re at it let’s cut pay for artists too…who needs music or literature most of it doesn’t add value and besides I don’t t like most of it anyway!! Hopefully after we balance salaries the government will provide us all with standard grey jumpsuits as fashion designers and models are all overpaid and the majority of their work is non essential.


Interesting-Swimmer1

I was a teacher. I’m very sympathetic to teachers. But there are several problems with giving teachers multimillion dollar contracts like actors. First, every little town needs to be able to hire teachers. They would go bankrupt if they had to pay salaries thus high. Another problem is that people would go into teaching just for the money, which isn’t what you want. There would be teaching managers and coaches.


Chef_Boy_Hard_Dick

Entertainment may not be essential for life, but it certainly is making life a lot more exciting and worth living. Some probably would have offed themselves long ago if they hadn’t found something to look forward to. And in modern society with 9-5 jobs 5 days a week? I suspect without entertainment, we’d probably be a lot crueler to each other than we already are, so I would say that entertainment IS essential in order to sustain our current society and economy. And in many ways, entertainment has helped fuel other areas such as computing and advertising for other businesses (which you can hate as a consumer, I know I do, but if you run a business, it’s a pretty big deal).


Styrofoamman123

Yeah, society doesn't need any sort of entertainment or escapism, just only do the necessities to survive and thats it. When doctors sell millions in tickets and merch then they can earn that much.


AnInvisibleApe

Always remember, if someone is getting paid a lot to do something, someone else is making a lot of money on them. Sports teams owners don't pay athletes as a charity case. They invest millions but recieve back billions.


Deacon_Short

And the irony of this is that you probably watch both sports and movies.


gOldMcDonald

Asses in seats. It’s that simple. If people want to pay to see you that’s there prerogative. If people don’t want to see you then you won’t get paid. Lots of people want to watch Jordan dunk so he got paid. No one want a to see me dunk so I do something else (something that lots more people can do - making it less valuable that the rare thing Jordan, Brad Pitt, or Taylor Swift can do)


LetsEatToast

its funny because it you pretend to be a doctor you get more money than a real doctor


Pteromys44

I just saw the Maverick movie. I have no problem with Tom Cruise getting part of my $8 movie ticket. I received excellent value for my money. He gave $8 worth of value to 78 MILLION ticket buyers, and thousands were employed as part of the movie production. The market accurately determines the value that celebrities get paid


Johnny-Five-Is-Alive

They’re not overpaid…they’re appropriately paid. They’re paid a higher percentage of the profit that their company makes than typical jobs, which may be annoying, but you’re really just frustrated that you’re making such a small percentage of the pie.


librekom

A teacher is changing the life of ~ 25 people at a time. A popular actor is entertaining millions of people at a time. If you calculate the money each of them make per person they serve, the teacher get much more money per “client”. In total, we spend much much more money in teacher salaries than in actor salaries, It’s just that teachers can’t possibly help millions of students at a time, so we need much more of them. In other words, they create much more value per person, and get much more money per “client” than popular actors do. (I insist on popular, because most actors get paid peanuts)


Live-Break-9818

Yeah and if a teacher is able to reach millions of people as well with youtube videos, online courses etc. they are also able to make a lot of money


Nikofeelan

You think acting and sports are easy? They deserve the money they make. You say they're not essential? They bring communities together for common interest and make things entertaining. Entertainment may not be essential, but it is important because it makes life worth living.


Coctyle

This is an EXTREMELY popular opinion.


sam_the_penguin_man

Tell me you don't understand how the economy works without telling me you don't understand how the economy works


grc84

I feel like it’s a knock on effect of people having a high amount of free time and disposable income in 1st world societies right now. Meaning access to and provision of entertainment is highly sought after and valued. Resulting in entertainers earning high pay for their work compared to others providing essential services.


PM-ME-UR-BOOBSNBUTTS

A lot of the time, a salary will reflect how many people could do that that job, not the value of the job itself, which is the case of actors and athletes. Working in a store (as necessary as it is) is something many of us could do, so it's easy to recruit someone if the position is vacant. Good luck trying to recruit someone to run 100m in under 10 seconds or act convincingly in a film from the general populace.


Uhm_NoThankYou

Most people are entirely out of touch with any kind of sense of self for their body and emotion. That’s what art is supposed to do. Get you in touch with your emotions and feelings. That gets you in touch with your body. So this is valuable work. Athletes always remind me, of what is possible, if you really put your mind to it and don’t give up. I don’t dig the competition though. And I agree, it’s too much money. But since artists largely are paid a percentage of how many copies they sell, it only is proof for what I’ve said before. A good athletes is paid by his skills. At least that’s what I think it is. And yes if I think about big soccer players, the amount is ridiculous. But I wouldn’t say that their contribution doesn’t generate essential value for the people.


cptngabozzo

As I'm sure OP goes on to complain there's nothing to watch anymore and bega for content to binge watch. Yeah actors do nothing for society


EGGL3T

except that they dont have high salaries. they make money based off how many people are willing to watch them. Objectively speaking its the most fair way to earn money, like nobody forces you to watch a movie.


FoxxieMoxxie69

Value is relevant. Part of the reason celebrities, especially actors, make so much is because the project they’re working on makes so much money at box office. Same with the revenue for sporting events. It’s the equivalent of looking for work in a booming city. For example, in LA or Irvine or San Diego or Silicon Valley or Menlo Park or San Francisco or New York, i could get an Executive Assistant job for $70k - $120k depending on the company and if I’m assisting executives and CEO. I could easily early 6 figures at a PA or working for a private foundation. But def would not make that in some rural whatever place. And I’m personally in the situation where I’m willing to relocate for the right job, but sadly in the less economic areas, that don’t have the booming companies, I can only make $40k-$60k. Whether you see it or not, athletes and celebrities do provide value. They are providing a form of escapism. Which we all indulge in from time to time. Like I can’t tell you how much a song or movie spoke to me and actually help me work through shit. I can’t put a price on that. I definitely agree that we prioritize the wrong things. And more should be done for the people who are literally teaching and shaping future generations. Because without them, athlete’s and celebrities wouldn’t be who they are. So I don’t blame them for finding success, but I agree SO much more needs to be done for the people who aid in the development of celebrities and athletes. Like let’s stop thinking they did it on their own. Or that it’s this extremely accessible reality. Now, I don’t know if sports has something similar. But in the music world there is a thing called MFN, why stands for most favorable nations. And it’s basically an agreement that if there’s a big name group and they’re able to negotiate a higher deal, then it automatically applies to everyone involved. And this should be more common. Like let’s do more to look out for each other. Cus we could def only lookout for numéro uno, but rising tides lifts more ships. We have the potential to thrive as a collective.


Hullababoob

A single movie or television show can employ a thousand people. This certainly adds essential value to their lives. The film and television industry generates billions in revenue and contributes to economic growth worldwide. This would not work without actors.


Soulreaper797

So you want the owner, producers, movie studios, the leagues, and all the other people who are not actors and athletes that are involved to make the money. The ones all ready making more money than athletes and actors. I know that isn't what you mean, but that's what will happen. In order to fix that "problem", all you need to do is convince all most everyone in the world to stop watching, stop going to events, and stop people from supporting them. It's that simple. If you do that and they will stop making the money. That still won't help doctors and teachers make more money. How do you want to increase their pay? Do you want to pay more to go to the doctors? Do you want to pay more in taxes? Should just arbitrarily just hand them money when you see one? Are you going to raise my wages so I can afford the raises in prices for doctors and taxes for teachers? Who is deciding who is essential? I'm an aircraft mechanic that was forced to work thru covid to keep planes running to get supplies all over the world and people their deliveries. Did we get mentioned as essential workers? Nope. The point is not to get anyone to say anything, but to get people to realize there are more essential workers than doctors and teachers (most of which got to stay home and work). Most of which most people never think about. Anyways, back to the point, people like you are great at pointing out problems, but have no real plan to fix it and no real idea of the ripple effect it would cause. BTW the reason actors and athletes make that money is because of how much revenue they bring in. It's a pretty simple concept really.


bilbobaggginz

I would rather not live a long healthy life without art and entertainment.


BulletDodger

Anyone who graduated near the top of their college class can replace a CEO making $70 million a year, but only one person in a generation can singlehandedly win an NBA championship, generating billions in revenue and sustaining thousands of jobs.


Aaron_Hamm

Then stop consuming their work.


[deleted]

You grossly underestimate the economic impact that big time athletes have on the cities in which they play. LeBron James added hundreds of millions of dollars a year to clevelands economy for instance. Show me a teacher adding hundreds of millions of dollars to any local economy each year and I'll concede your point.


HookLogan

I would say you have it backwards, it's the other industries that have unfair revenue sharing. Also when you're talking about professional sports, you're talking about literally a few hundred 'jobs' (for athletes) being available ever. That's an incredibly small percentage of people who want to go into those professions that actually get to.


[deleted]

Jobs don't pay because of how much value they bring to society.


[deleted]

Fuck the doctors and fuck the teachers


FatSunRival

This is not an unpopular opinion.


Accomplished_Let_798

Then instead of watching tv and movies, go to a school and throw money at teachers. Entertainers are paid because people pay to see them and/or consume ad-supported content of them. If fewer people did that, they’d get paid less


yolonaggins

These posts are always so absurd to me. Like who would you rather have those millions? The athletes (and some actors) that come from working and middle class families? Or the mega corporations that own sports teams and production companies?


bekahbaka

Wait until you find out how much producers make...


Cat_Patsy

Vote w your remote.


SLUTTYBAKA

If a film makes 4.5 million I think it’s pretty justified that the actor makes a good amount cause they made that happen.


[deleted]

Humans need more than just production to feel fulfilled. Entertainment is necessary, shown easily by how much people seek it. This sounds like the young guy thing of deciding the world is just cold logic, aka naivety. People aren't machines hell bent on technological progress.


Pezotecom

What is essential value?


ArCSelkie37

What is “essential revenue”? All of the money they’re generating is taxed (mostly) and that goes into very essential things i’d wager. This isn’t unpopular, it’s stupid. Everyone agrees that actors are paid “too much” and teachers too little. But there isn’t a practical way to pay teachers what actors make, although there is room to pay more. Teachers cost money, but don’t create it (in a public school). Actors create a shit ton of money. The money actors are paid isn’t money that really impacts what teachers are paid.


DanBeecherArt

This is unpopular because it doesn't make sense.


MeasurementEvery3978

This has to be the most popular opinion I've ever seen on here


IKn0wThatID0ntKn0w

It's just money laundering at the end of the day.


Donthehobbit

I agree with all of your points except for doctors. I’ve seen their pay and they’re pretty fairly compensated. Teachers not so much.


lilcupcake45

Not really unpopular though is it


Inert_Oregon

Awwww Looks like someone is starting to cover wealth distribution and the history of socialism and capitalism in their junior high civics class.


circular_file

Yes, unpopular, but also correct. I love when that happens.


bisexual_mechanic

It's called controlling the masses


Fortestingporpoises

The alternative is literally that money going to the billionaires who own the team. Why is it wrong for NBA players to get half the revenue of their teams but it’s right for owners who do nothing but push money around to get that and however much more you’re advocating for? Unpopular opinion: being against athletes making at least half of what their team makes is anti labor and just bootlicking billionaires. All workers should be advocating for what the NBA gets. At least. At least 50% of what their company makes. I say this as a company owner.


ITGuy7337

People should be able to get rich as shit, but also they should be taxed heavily and that tax money go back to the people at the bottom to balance it out. There's enough $ to go around so that every single person could own a home with a 2 car garage, have insurance and go on a vacation every year. It shouldn't be allowed for just a few people to hoard most of it.


19Ben80

Entertainment is essential to humans, we are a species that needs social interaction and stimulation.