When Mo'Nique won an Oscar in 2009 for her performance in Precious, it was supposed to
be the start of an illustrious Hollywood career. But the complete opposite happened, and she
soon found herself blackballed from the industry. So, what happened? Here's why Hollywood won't
cast Mo'Nique anymore.
There was a ton of buzz about Mo'Nique being an Oscars contender after the release of Precious.
In order to increase her chances of taking home the award, she was asked to schmooze
with other A-listers and promote the movie at various film festivals. However, according
to the New York Daily News, Mo'Nique was a no-show at the New York Film Festival, and
she also skipped out on the Toronto Film Festival.
Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter,
"You want me to campaign for an award, and I say this with all the humility in the world,
but you want me to campaign for an award that I didn't ask for."
When she was called out for allegedly refusing to promote the film, Mo'Nique revealed to
CNN's Don Lemon that she was only paid $50,000 to appear in the award-winning film. She also
implied that the travel costs associated with promoting the film were prohibitive, and since
the studio refused to pay her to make the promotional appearances, she chose not to
do them.
Mo'Nique told Lemon that after her decision to "respectfully decline" the studio's invitation
to fly to France to attend the Cannes Film Festival, the narrative changed to the celeb
being difficult and demanding, thus pushing her out of the limelight.
Executive produced by Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, and directed by Lee Daniels, Precious
was released in 2009 to glowing accolades. Based on the novel Push by the author Sapphire,
Precious tells the story of an overweight girl, Claireece "Precious" Jones, played by
Gabourey Sidibe, and her abusive mother, Mary Lee Johnston, played by Mo'Nique.
On the night of March 7th, 2010, Mo'Nique showed up to the 82nd Academy Awards in her
elegant royal blue evening gown. As the late comedian Robin Williams announced her as the
winner for best actress in a supporting role, everyone in attendance at the Kodak Theater
in Hollywood collectively rose to their feet to give her a standing ovation.
However, the opening line of her acceptance speech rubbed many people the wrong way, when
she said,
"First, I'd like to thank the academy for showing that it can be about the performance
and not the politics."
Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter that she was offered the role in The Butler that
Oprah Winfrey played, and she even received an offer to appear on Fox's Empire. Daniels
also reportedly offered Mo'Nique the role of Richard Pryor's grandmother in a bio-pic
Daniels was slated to direct. But following her Oscar win, Mo'Nique claimed,
"Each of those things that he offered me was taken off the table...They all just went away.
But that's just part of the business, you know?"
Sometime in 2014, Mo'Nique received a call from Daniels, and it was during that phone
call that he reportedly told her, quote "Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed."
When she asked for an explanation why, Daniels supposedly said, "Because you didn't play
the game."
Following the release of that interview, Daniels issued a statement, saying,
"Mo'nique is a creative force to be reckoned with. Her demands through Precious were not
always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community."
As for the post-Precious roles he offered her, Daniels said,
"I have and will always think of her for parts that we can collaborate on. However, the consensus
among the creative teams and powers thus far were to go another way with these roles."
As an Academy Award-winning actress, you'd think the award would open doors and cause
offers to come pouring in, right? Well, not quite, according to Mo'Nique, at least. She
was under the assumption that taking home the coveted award would lead to "more respect,
more choices and more money." However, she learned that wasn't the case.
Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter about a quote she'd heard from Hattie McDaniel,
the first African-American to win an Oscar for her 1939 performance in Gone with the
Wind.
"Hattie said, 'After I won that award, it was as if I had done something wrong.' It
was the same with me. I thought, once you won the award, that's the top prize, and so
you're supposed to be treated as if you got the top prize."
During one of her most controversial stand-up routines, Mo'Nique went after the people she
felt had crushed her chances of having a successful acting career. Directed toward those who were
involved in the film Precious, including Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey, Mo'Nique
said they, quote "can suck my d---, if I had one!"
In response, Daniels appeared on Raq Rants and insisted he had supported Mo'Nique and
was on her side initially.
"I fought hard for her to get that job. I wanted her to get that job. And she was paid
her money. She was paid the money for the budget that we had."
Daniels continued,
"And for her to badmouth myself, and Tyler and Oprah, is disrespectful and it's wrong.
She's wrong. She's out of pocket."
Next, Mo'Nique set her sights on the digital streaming service Netflix in January 2018.
Netflix reportedly offered her $500,000 to film her own stand-up comedy special. Mo'Nique
felt the offer was way too low, especially in comparison to the $13 million they gave
fellow comedian Amy Schumer. Mo'Nique's offer was also $19.5 million less than her male
counterparts, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
In an Instagram video, Mo'Nique called for a boycott of Netflix "for gender bias and
color bias." She even took her crusade to The View to speak about what she deemed as
unfair treatment.
"You're told, build up your resume, and that's what'll get the money, then you build up your
resume. And then they'll say, well you know what? We see the resume but we'll get them
the next time."
Mo'Nique also told Vulture that she wasn't feeling the company's low offer and she demanded
they take a look at her resume, but they wouldn't budge.
"So, when my husband and our attorney says, 'Well, let's go back in so we can renegotiate
this,' it was 'Take it or leave it.' That's what it is."
After her Netflix boycott failed to gain traction, Mo'Nique ratcheted up her feud with the streaming
service giant with a discrimination lawsuit in November 2019. Claiming that the company
failed to offer her more money because she was a black woman, the lawsuit stated,
"The terms of Netflix's offer to Mo'Nique were discriminatory based on her gender and
race/color."
In addition to claiming that Netflix refused to negotiate with Mo'Nique's team, it also
accused the company of lacking diversity:
"Netflix has maintained a corporate culture, reaching the highest levels of senior leadership,
that has been insensitive to Black workers. Relatedly, the company has been plagued by
a lack of racial diversity within senior leadership, as well as across the organization."
Netflix's legal team hit back hard on Mo'Nique the following January, calling her discrimination
suit "nonsensical." The streaming giant's motion to dismissal added,
"And Plaintiff fails to explain why she was entitled to be offered what the stars to whom
she compares herself were offered for creating such comedy specials."
As of this video, the case remains ongoing.
Being a veteran in the entertainment industry means Mo'Nique has a long list of famous friends,
from fellow comedians, to producers and directors. When she refused to promote Precious and rumors
circulated that she was nothing but trouble, she met with some of her industry pals to
receive guidance and support, including Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve
Harvey.
She later appeared on Steve Harvey's show to engage in a heated debate. During her sit-down
interview, Mo'Nique told Harvey she was disappointed.
"All of y'all said privately, I've done nothing wrong."
"When you tell the truth, you have to deal with the repercussions of the truth. We black
out here."
Harvey went on the record to say Mo'Nique was owed an apology from the bigwigs involved
with Precious, but he also told Mo'Nique she needed to apologize for the hurtful things
she had said about them. As of this video, Harvey's attempts to bury the hatchet between
Mo'Nique and Hollywood seem to have fallen short. At this point, we're not even sure
she cares to be back in Hollywood's inner circle, especially since she's forged her
own path...
Hollywood may not be knocking down her door, but Mo'Nique still has a legion of fans who
enjoy her sometimes raunchy jokes. Because she has held on to her popularity in the underground
circuit, she has found a new home on the comedy trail. As of 2019, she was hired to headline
her own residency in Las Vegas at the SLS Hostel and Casino, according to The Washington
Post. The publication also stated that Mo'Nique is "the first black female comedian to have
her own residency in Sin City."
After all that she has been through, Mo'Nique said she has no regrets about how things panned
out for her career. While speaking with Las Vegas Weekly, she was just excited to get
back on the stage and show the world what she was made of.
"When you come to Mo'Nique Does Vegas, I'ma do Vegas, and you're coming for a lot of laughter,
no judgment, a lot of love and a great time."
Mo'Nique and Oprah Winfrey's long-running feud hit the news again when she wrote an
"open letter" to the legendary talk show host on Instagram in February 2020 to call out
the perceived "disparity" in the way Winfrey treats those around her. After Oprah appeared
on a CBS This Morning interview to say that she found a silver lining in the Harvey Weinstein
allegations, Mo'Nique felt compelled to write a response. She said,
"You also said 'if we make this all about Harvey Weinstein then we have lost the moment.'
When you either are or were going to be a part of a documentary on Michael Jackson,
and Russell Simmons, how is that not making it all about them?"
Recalling a time when a 16-year-old Mo'Nique met and idolized Winfrey, the star added that
she never imagined she would grow up in a world where the latter made her life harder.
Mo'Nique concluded the letter with, "Lastly, please consider standing by the people who
are right and not just the 'right people.'"
As of this video, Winfrey has yet to respond.
During a February 2020 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mo'Nique shot
down any discussion about her discrimination lawsuit against Netflix.
"What I will say is we're going to see how it plays out."
However, she had plenty to say about her ongoing feuds with Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, and
Tyler Perry.
"If those three people ever get courageous enough to say we owe this woman and her husband
[Sidney Hicks] an apology. Of course, I still love these people...I don't hate these people.
They're still brothers and sisters. It would have to be a public apology, not just private."
When pressed on why their apologies should be public, Mo'Nique explained it wouldn't
be the same if the apologies were private, saying,
"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. They have to do this
publicly so the public can see just how the powerful operate."
Who needs Netflix? In early February 2020, Mo'Nique & Friends: Live from Atlanta premiered
on Showtime. With appearances including Prince T-Dub, Just Nesh, Tone-X, Correy Bell, and
Donnell Rawlings, the comedy special was Mo'Nique's first in over a decade, and she issued a hilarious
warning to her fans a week before it aired in her Atlanta Journal-Constitution interview.
"If you have a little leakage problem, put on some coverage. I guarantee you will have
a situation from laughing so hard. That's what you need to know."
At the time of this writing, Mo'Nique doesn't have any additional on-screen projects slated,
according to her IMDb page. Hollywood may still be warming up to her, but absolutely
nothing can stop this queen of comedy from sharing her talent with the world. However,
don't expect her to change for anybody. Mo'Nique told The Washington Post in 2019,
"I've always been this. 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.'"
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