Judge Judy is giving her verdict on cancel culture, the Derek Chauvin trial, being the highest-paid host on television and how she negotiated that staggering salary in a new interview to promote her next project Judy Justice for IMDb TV.
The former family court judge, real name Judy Sheindlin, taped the last episode of her syndicated show last month after 25 seasons – where she was paid a reported $47million per season. She now has a rumored net worth of $440 million, making her one of the richest judges in the world.
Sheindlin, 78, insists that despite ‘cancel culture’ being rife in the entertainment world, she remains unafraid to give her unfettered opinion on hot topics, and states that she is not a fan of the so-called ‘PC police’ on social media.
‘To have a fear of speaking your opinion, for fear of being put on somebody’s list and canceled? It’s a frightening place for America to be,’ Sheindlin told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘I’m not a big fan of the PC police.’
‘Is it PC to say to people who are 19 or 23 years old, have no job, no prospects and six children, “Find something else to do with that organ”? No. But where I come from, I’ve seen the ravages of that kind of neglect,’ she added.
However, Sheindlin does say that there are some people that deserve to be shamed for their past comments.
She said: ‘If you’re a bad person, if you’ve done something wrong, you’ve got to be prepared to pay the piper. And there are people who have done just that. They’ve paid the price with their good name, their footprint. That’s a good thing.’
No-nonsense: Judy Judy – real name Judy Sheindlin – is the highest paid TV host in history, and has revealed how she is not a fan of cancel culture in a new interview (Pictured, 2019)
The TV megastar was also asked her opinion on the trial of Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, at a state trial in Minneapolis on April 20.
‘That’s what happens when you have a movie,’ Sheindlin said, referring to how the damning viral video footage of the incident expedited the trial.
‘It wasn’t an issue as to what happened. And the judge, I think he was pretty straight-up. He didn’t duck and cover. The media wasn’t going to allow any delay, and rightfully so.’
Sheindlin added: ‘The country wanted a resolution. It’s a different age now. If it’s a homicide, a robbery, a burglary… you often have it on video.’
In session: The 78-year-old TV megastar also gave her verdict on the Derek Chauvin trial, for the murder of George Floyd, praising the ‘straight-up’ Judge Peter Cahill
The tough-talking star also answered questions about her huge salary, which she would negotiate by presenting a sealed envelope containing her desired wage written down at the end of a lunch meeting with a CBS executive.
Laughing, Sheindlin said this was not how she went about negotiations with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who owns streaming service IMDb TV, her new platform.
‘Without giving you specifics, because that’s a little unseemly, my compensation has not been a secret. It’s been out there for a long time – not by me, but it got out there and had its own life. So, the folks at Amazon understood what the parameters were. There was no issue,’ she stated.
Still going strong: Sheindlin will begin production on her new show, Judy Justice, an arbitration-based reality show, in late summer
She also revealed that 20 years ago, she told CBS that she could make the show without them if she wanted to, and wanted to be treated as a partner rather than a star of the show.
‘I can take Judy Sheindlin anywhere else. And good luck with you if you can find somebody else. Otherwise, let’s share the gift that this program has brought to both of us,’ she is said to have told them, adding: ‘I don’t think that there’s anything unreasonable about that.’
Despite her great wealth, Sheindlin confessed in the interview that she would still end her working day by cleaning the bathroom at work to feel like she had accomplished something.
‘When I’ve had a frustrating day at work, which I do occasionally, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to get out the silver polish and do some frames around the house or find an old pair of earrings and clean them up,’ she said.
On her last day of filming her iconic show last month, rather than get emotional Sheindlin said: ‘It was just the end of the day, the end of the job. I cleaned the bathroom, and the bathroom is sparkling.’
Watch out: Sheindlin admits that despite ‘cancel culture’ being rife in the entertainment world, the no-nonsense TV star remains unafraid to give her unfettered opinion on hot topics
In March, it was revealed Sheindlin decided not to move ahead with her $22 million countersuit in her long-running profits battle with CBS out of loyalty to the company.
‘I have been in business with CBS for 20 years,’ said the Brooklyn native. ‘I’m not suing them when they are not the wrongdoer.’
Sheindlin has been locked in a legal battle with Rebel Entertainment Partners and Richard Lawrence, the talent agent who negotiated her show’s original packaging deal.
Rebel are Richard’s successor in interest and claimed they are entitled to 5% of the profits from the $95 million sale of the Judge Judy catalog to CBS in 2017.
The legal battle has been going on since 2016 and at one point an issue was made of Sheindlin’s $47 million salary which her opponents argued was so ‘exorbitant’ it was causing the show to lose money.
Sheindlin will begin production on her new show, Judy Justice, an arbitration-based reality show, in late summer.