“[It was] rewarding.
It was excit[ing].
It was challenging because I love to laugh, baby, I love to laugh.
The world needs to see it because guess what?
Mary Jones exists, baby.
So does Precious,” she explained.
She was expected to campaign for and promote the movie, but she just wouldn’t play ball.
As Mo’Nique put it,she had to put her own family first.
If people want to say I didn’t campaign because I took my family first?
I’ll accept that."
“I wanted to spend [the downtime] with my husband and my kids.
… [W]e said we respectfully decline,” Mo’Nique explained.
This left the studio unsatisfied, and further speculation began to circle the incident.
What it did was that it gave me a new reality.
“I got a phone call from Lee Daniels.
… And he said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’ve been blackballed.’
And I said, ‘I’ve been blackballed?
Why have I been blackballed?’
And he said, ‘Because you didn’t play the game.’
And I said, ‘Well, what game is that?’
And he gave me no response,” she said.
And that’s unacceptable."
As Daniels explained toThe Hollywood Reporterin March 2023, “I did [want Mo’Nique for these roles].
But I didn’t have the power to hire her.
There were studios and other producers involved.”
I felt the same injustices and inequalities that all the Black women who came to Hollywood before me felt.
Oftentimes, people call that anger.
They call it bitterness.
They call it unstable.
They give it all these titles except what it really is."
I was offered a $500,000 deal last week to do a comedy special.
The comment section flooded with a mixture of support and discouragement.
However, fellow comic Wanda Sykes reached out viaTwitterthe following day to show her support.
She shared a post that read, “[T]hank you for speaking out.
@netflix offered me less than half of your $500k.
I was offended but found another home.
#EPIX,” referring to the cable online grid, which is now known as MGM+.
“Y’all knew I was not wrong.
Each one of you said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’re not wrong.’
Steve, do you know how hurt I was?”
Harvey replied, “I thought you went about it wrong.
Everything unfolded very publicly, and the actor had made her stance known to the media.
Still, nobody was owning up to their mistakes.
It would have to be a public apology, not just private.
I have an audiotape of Tyler Perry saying, ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’
But he hasn’t said it publicly.
Oprah privately told me I did nothing wrong.
Netflix ultimately settled with Mo’Nique in June 2022.
On her opening day, she sat down withKSNV News 3to talk about the honor.
So I appreciate it, but there were so many more.'”
Mo’Nique’s time on The Strip reinforced her stance that she would never change.
If it didn’t make sense, you had to make it make sense to me.
So, they think I’m new, but the people that know me?
They’re just like, ‘Man, she been that.'"
Daniels then turned to the crowd and said, “She was my best friend.
Y’all think that ‘Precious’ was just … that was God working through both of us.
And we’re gonna f***ing do it again.
I love you, I love you, I love you.”
Mo’Nique emotionally replied to the director, “I love you.”
And just like that, their beef seemed to be squashed.
“Can y’all believe this s***?
I done came on home to Netflix,” Mo’Nique joked in the clip.
“My name is Mo’Nique!
Let me tell [you] why I had to file that lawsuit.
Let me tell you why I will not waver.
Let me tell you why I won’t flinch.
Let me tell you why I don’t take to bullies very well,” she said.
“If I was a white woman, my name would be Melissa McCarthy.
Five-year sitcom and syndication.
The opportunities are not the same.
… We get judged by a different stick,” Mo’Nique explained.
“We’re still very much separated.
