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Mark Wahlberg Donates $1.5 Million for 'Time’s Up' Campaign

Mark Wahlberg arrives for at a film premiere on June 18, 2017 in central London. Hannah McKay / Reuters
Mark Wahlberg arrives for at a film premiere on June 18, 2017 in central London. Hannah McKay / Reuters
    Los Angeles, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Mark Wahlberg Donates $1.5 Million for 'Time’s Up' Campaign

Mark Wahlberg arrives for at a film premiere on June 18, 2017 in central London. Hannah McKay / Reuters
Mark Wahlberg arrives for at a film premiere on June 18, 2017 in central London. Hannah McKay / Reuters

American actor Mark Wahlberg announced he would donate $1.5 million - the money he earned for reshooting a part of the “All the Money in the World” movie- to a fund that legally defends women, after reports said that his colleague Michelle Williams, who partook in the same movie, received less than $1000 for the reshooting.

On his Twitter account, Wahlberg said: “Over the last few days my reshoot fee for 'All the Money in the World' has become an important topic of conversation," I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I'm donating the $1.5 million to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams' name," he added.

Director Ridley Scott resumed the shooting of the movie in November, one month before its show, after its star Kevin Spacey faced sexual misconduct allegations.

Spacey has been replaced by Christopher Plummer, and Scott said that the other actors agreed to reshoot “for free”.

However, the USA Today newspaper revealed that Wahlberg, in fact, got $1.5 million to re-shoot his scenes in 10 days, while Williams earned only $80 a day.

It is worth noting that both Williams and Wahlberg are represented by the same acting agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME), which also agreed to donate $500,000 to the Time’s UP legal defense fund.

The company said in a statement: “the reports highlighting wage discrepancies are a "reminder" for officials who should shoulder their responsibilities in fighting inequalities, including the gender-based wages gap. It is important that these efforts continue within our community, and we are committed to being part of the solution."

Commenting on the announcement, Williams applauded the reports talking about Wahlberg’s donation.

In a statement published by the US media, including the Deadline website, Williams said: “Today isn’t about me. My fellow actresses stood by me and stood up for me, my activist friends taught me to use my voice, and the most powerful men in charge, they listened and they acted,”

“If we truly envision an equal world, it takes equal effort and sacrifice. Today is one of the most indelible days of my life because of Mark Wahlberg, WME and a community of women and men who share in this accomplishment,” she added. Referring to the actor who first accused actor Kevin Spacey of misconduct, she said: “Anthony Rapp, for all the shoulders you stood on, now we stand on yours.”

The “Time’s Up” campaign was founded this month by over 300 women working in the fields of cinema, television and theater. Legal funding will be provided to persons who have been harassed or sexually abused in workplace.

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Varieties

Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.