CBS Executives Try to Explain ‘Hawaii Five-0’ Exits

The TV world was shocked last month when it was revealed that Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park would be exitingHawaii Five-0 — a show in which they’ve starred in every single episode.

It was later revealed that the two Asian actors fought for equal pay with their white co-stars Scott Caan and Alex O’Loughlin, but the studio denied the parity. This issue has brought some heat down on CBS as of late.

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During the TCA press tour this week, the executives at the network were asked about the Hawaii Five-0 shake-up once again, and they still had a hard time talking their way out of it.

As he said after the initial reports last month, CBS entertainment Chief Kelly Kahl claimed that they tried to offer Park and Kim significant raises but the money wasn’t enough.

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“We love both actors and did not want to lose them,” Kahl said. He continued by saying that departures often happen on long-running series.

While he didn’t specify the amount of money the network offered the actors, Kahn did say that they “made lucrative offers to those actors.”

While raises are helpful, no one has let Kahn and CBS off the hook for the issue. The actors were offered significant raises and they still weren’t making the same amount as their white co-stars, despite appearing in the same number of episodes.

After the departures were announced, Kim made a Facebook post about his exit, saying that, “The path to equality is never easy.”