'Orange Is The New Black' star reveals she only made $27 in royalties for starring in 44 episodes

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By Asiya Ali

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Orange Is the New Black star Kimiko Glenn has revealed how much she made in royalties after appearing in 44 episodes of the Netflix show, and it's really shocking.

The 34-year-old actress joined the popular TV drama in its second season as inmate Brook Soso - who is thrown into prison for illegal activism.

Amid Hollywood actors' strike against streamers and studios, Glenn took to TikTok to show a pink SAG-AFTRA Foreign Royalties Statement that listed all of the titles of the episodes she appeared in, with a shocking grand total of $27.30 at the bottom.

So, not even $1 per episode.

Watch Glenn's TikTok:

The video - which has 4.6 million views on the social media platform - left many users flabbergasted that Glenn, along with several other actors, don't get paid enough for appearing on popular TV shows.

One user said: "That’s actually insane! Thank you for your transparency, so important!"

Another chimed in: "OITNB was the whole reason I switched from pirating to streaming! You guys CARRIED Netflix!"

A third commented: "I’d be outside the gates right now cause somebody gotta answer for this," while a fourth exclaimed: "BROOOOOOOOO WHAT?! I’m bout to start striking too!"

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Credit: TikTok
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Credit: TikTok
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Credit: TikTok
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Credit: TikTok

Now, in a new TikTok video, the Can You Keep a Secret actress recounted the initial reaction to the video, saying: "I remember a lot of comments back when I posted that were like, 'Guys guys guys, they got paid upfront.'"

"First of all," she contended, "Whether or not we got paid upfront, my t*ts live on in perpetuity. I deserve to get paid for as many f**king streams as that s**t gets.

"Second of all, we did not get paid very well, ever," Glenn continued. "And when I say didn’t get paid very well, you would die!"

She then went on to disclose that "people were still bartenders, people had their second jobs still," and added: "They were f**king famous as s**t, like internationally famous - couldn’t go outside - but had to keep their second jobs because they couldn’t afford to not. We couldn’t afford cabs to set... you guys!"

Glenn then shared more details on the financials of it all on Instagram, explaining just how much they made per day, which was $900. That $900 was then taxed and added up to $1800 a month.

Then, as the show got bigger, they were taxed even more and that same money was then spread between managers, lawyers, and publicists. Ultimately, the actors from these hit shows that drove so many sign-ups couldn't even afford to live.

There's no announced end date for the strike, which began after several weeks of talks failed to find a solution. Around 160,000 actors and performers are involved.

This means that actors aren't allowed to have on-camera work, can't promote projects, and are prohibited from agreeing to new contracts which cover the vast majority of what an actor would do.

Featured image credit: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty