CBS Pretty Much Admits They Ripped Off Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park

CBS broke their silence about “Hawaii Five-0” stars Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim parting ways with the show after the network refused to pay the Asian-American actors the same salary as their White co-stars.

CBS Television Studios reportedly offered Kim and Park 10-15% lower than the salary of lead actors Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan, who both have deals that also give them percentage points on the show’s back end, according to Variety.

In a post to his fans on his Facebook page Wednesday, Kim said he was grateful for getting a chance to represent the Asian-American community through the character of Lt. Chin Ho Kelly.

“As an Asian American actor, I know first-hand how difficult it is to find opportunities at all, let alone play a well developed, three dimensional character like Chin Ho,” he wrote. “I will miss him sincerely.”

CBS released a follow-up statement on Wednesday:

“Daniel and Grace have been important and valued members of ‘Hawaii Five-0’ for seven seasons. 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.”

Kim and Park have both starred in the series for seven seasons since 2010, along with O’Loughlin and Caan.

Kim will serve as executive producer on ABC’s new medical drama, “The Good Doctor”, which premieres this fall.

As for Park, she will next be reunited with the cast of “Battlestar Galactica” at San Diego Comic-Con from July 20 through July 23, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Image via Flickr / rwoan (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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