Hawaii Five-0 stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park have left the project after contract disputes with CBS.

After seven years on the action procedural Hawaii Five-0, two of the lead actors have chosen to leave the series.

As reported by Vox, Kim and Park were both negotiating for a pay rise; the pair were reportedly being paid a 10-15% less than their white, male co-stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan, which is unfortunately a wide-spread issue for actors of color working in Hollywood.

Hawaii Five-0 will continue, heading into its eighth season sans Park and Kim, whose characters Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua’s departures will be addressed in the premiere.

Now, Daniel Dae Kim has released a statement elaborating on his decision to leave, and thanking the fans for their support.

Part of his statement reads:

“As sad as it feels to say goodbye, what I feel most is gratitude. I am so deeply thankful to our crew, writers and everyone associated with the show – and especially the cast, who have been nothing but supportive through this entire process. They and the crew have been my second family for seven years and I wish them nothing but success for season 8 – and beyond.

I also want to say to thank you to Peter Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and everyone at CBS. I will always be grateful for their faith in me to bring Chin Ho Kelly to life. 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. I will miss him sincerely.

The path to equality is rarely easy. But I hope you can be excited for the future. I am. 5-0 continues on after one of its strongest seasons. I’ve got new acting projects on the horizon, and as a producer, my company, 3AD, has its first show, THE GOOD DOCTOR, set to air this fall on ABC. I hope you’ll tune in. There’s a lot to look forward to and I’ll be sure to share it with you.”

You can read the full statement on Daniel Dae Kim’s official Facebook page.