Jeremy Renner responds to Jennifer Lawrence essay by saying helping female co-stars negotiate equal pay ‘is not my job’

The pair starred in American Hustle together

Jeremy Renner (Getty)

Jeremy Renner has responded to Jennifer Lawrence's essay on the gender pay gap in Hollywood by saying he supports equal pay, but believes it is not his responsibility to help secure it ahead of filming.

The Academy-Award winning actress wrote about her regret over not fighting harder for Lena Dunham’s new newsletter, Lenny. Revelations about eaernings highlighted the disparity in pay between men and women and led to growing calls for wage transparency.

Her American Hustle co-star Bradley Cooper promised to work with his female colleagues to negotiate fair salaries before production starts on films. But Renner, who appeared alongside Lawrence in the same film, was hesitant to make the same pledge.

When asked by Business Insider if he would be prepared to negotiate salaries alongside his female co-stars before signing onto a film, he responded: “That’s not my job. I don't know contracts and money and all that sort of stuff.

“I'm a performer and I know human behaviour. When it comes to that sort of stuff I let other people deal with that. I do what I'm good at, that's what I focus on.”

In her Lenny letter, Lawrence attributed her reluctance to push for a higher wage to her fear of being perceived as spoilt or entitled.

She wrote: “At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realised every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoilt.’

“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need."