Ellen Pompeo calls out ‘really s***ty’ streaming residuals for Grey’s Anatomy cast

A well-known actor has called out the “really unfair” pay structure surrounding one of the longest running US TV series.

Ellen Pompeo has starred on Grey’s Anatomy for 21 seasons but she isn’t receiving life-changing residuals on streaming platforms.

“Them having the ability to use my voice, my likeness, my image, 47 billion minutes a year and not paying me a penny wouldn’t really feel great to me,” Pompeo told Variety on Tuesday after receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“People don’t stream the last 10 years more than they stream the first 10 years. Most people stream the first 10 years the most, and there’s no residual structures for any of those writers, actors, directors,” she said, reported the New York Post.

“That, to me, is really s***ty and really unfair,” the 55-year-old went on.

“So, me being on the show a little bit and still getting to at least make money from them profiting off of us is more digestible for me,” Pompeo said.

“That’s why I stay on, to be honest,” she added.

She was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this week. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

Despite low residuals, playing Meredith Grey since 2005 has allowed Pompeo to meet viewers that have connected with her character on a deeper level.

The actor said she is “overwhelmed” at the fact that the series “provided comfort to people in their absolute worst moments”.

“I’ve had the chance to meet and shake hands and hug so many young people who are so sad,” Pompeo continued.

That alone leads the actor to “try to stop and see people and see their pain and just look them in the eye and acknowledge them”.

“If that brings people some comfort, then I guess that’s something I want to say I’m called to do. Every once in a while, a character comes along that moves people. It’s not often that comes along. I’m trying to embrace it with as much grace and gratitude as I can,” Pompeo said.

As Meredith Grey on the hit series.

These days, Pompeo has stepped back as the lead and instead acts as a supporting character and a producer.

Despite garnering a nomination at the Golden Globes in 2007 for Best Actress, the Law & Order veteran has never taken home an award for her work.

“To keep a show on the air for 20 years, I have to be somewhat talented, but I’ve never been critically recognised,” Pompeo admitted to the outlet.

“I think I’ve worked so hard and for so long that, yeah, I’d like a little bit of probably a pat on the back from someone to think I have some sort of talent.”

In March, Pompeo revealed why she decided to take a step back from Grey’s Anatomy while on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just knew that I really couldn’t do Grey’s anymore,” she told host Alex Cooper at the time.

“It was to the point where I really just felt like an animal at the zoo. I’m a big believer in destiny. I thought, if there’s something else I’m meant to do, it’s gonna find me. But I know I have to leave this,” she added.

During her time on Grey’s, Pompeo also made waves as she vigorously fought to make equal pay.

Pompeo argued that she should make the same amount of money as her then co-star, Patrick Dempsey, who was her love interest on the show.

Pompeo had to fight for equal pay with her co-star.

By 2018, the Hollywood star had become the highest-paid actor in a television drama — bringing home US$20 million (A$31 million) per season.

“To be completely fair, the television game was so different then. He had done 13 pilots before me,” Pompeo said, adding that Dempsey, 59, had a quote that was much higher than her own.

“Nothing personal to him, just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote keeps going up, right? But in all fairness, his quote was what it was.”

Pompeo noted, “He was a bigger star than I was at that point. No one knew who I was”. “Everybody knew who he was, so he did deserve that money. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that money. It’s just, being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same and that was harder to get.”

“I wasn’t salty about him getting what he got,” she reiterated.

“I was salty that they didn’t value me as much as they valued him, and they never will.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Ellen Pompeo calls out ‘really s***ty’ streaming residuals for Grey’s Anatomy cast