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, and 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 "when she was denied a $100,000 appearance fee."

"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," Mo'Nique told The Hollywood Reporter. 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.

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 an another Lee Daniels project, the highly-rated show we all now know as Fox's Empire. Daniels also reportedly offered Mo'Nique "the role as Richard Pryor's grandmother" in a biopic 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, "Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed," she explained to The Hollywood Reporter. 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, calling Mo'Nique a "creative force to be reckoned with." But then, he added that "her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community." Ouch. 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."

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 (pictured, right), Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey, Mo'Nique said they "can suck my d***k, 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," he said in regards to the comedian receiving a $50,000 payment for appearing in the film. Daniels added, "And for her to badmouth myself — and Tyler and Oprah — is disrespectful and it's wrong. She's wrong. She's out of pocket. She's really wrong."

Is it right that she was paid $50,000 for a film that grossed over $47 million domestically, as of this writing? Perhaps not, but the way Mo'Nique publicly expressed her disappointment and anger didn't earn her any new friends in the industry, either. 

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 (pictured, left), to name a few.

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 because when he and her friends met with her privately, they told her she had done nothing wrong, but she was furious that "none of [them], in real time, were strong enough to go publicly and say, 'We can't throw our sister under the bus.'" 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. Uh oh. "I'm never, ever going to waver from my comedy show on that stage — that's my gift and that's my freedom," she said.

As of this writing, Harvey's attempts to help Mo'Nique wiggle her way back into everyone's good graces fell 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...

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, CNN reports. 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," while alleging that "the offer tried to perpetuate" the drastic pay gap that black women experience.

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" and claiming she failed "to explain why she was entitled to be offered what the stars to whom she compares herself were offered for creating such comedy specials" in a filed motion to dismiss her claim (via The Hollywood Reporter). As of this writing, the case remains ongoing.

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," The Parkers star simply replied when asked about its status. 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," Mo'Nique said. "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."

Mo'Nique went on to say that her power was "different" and was "spiritually" only used to love her family. "I want to be powerful so I'm strong and can be heard for my children's children," she said, before aiming one final shot at the above-mentioned trio: "To say powerful so I can push a button and shut you down. I don't want that power."