For the past few years, comedian/actress, Mo’Nique has repeatedly spoken out against Precious director, Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey for blackballing her in Hollywood. Mo’Nique claimed the three friends have a personal vendetta against her for several reasons: Her refusal to promote “Precious” overseas for free (she was only paid $50K for the job, but not to promote it out of pocket); and for her not thanking Lee during her Oscar Award acceptance speech FYI: In case you’ve ever wondered what Tyler and Oprah have to do with this, they provided promotional assistance for “Precious.” Fast forward to now, and Lee Daniels is slammin’ Mo’Nique something SERIOUS.
Daniels: Don’t Get Damon Dash Twisted With Mo’Nique
The other day, we reported that Lee Daniels had actually confessed to doing Damon Dash wrong, by not paying him a $2+ million loan (or investment, depending on who you ask) back for one of his prior films. That public confession only occurred after Dame rolled up on him at a Diana Ross concert and then blasted him all over social media with details that even Lee Daniels couldn’t deny.
When it comes to Mo’Nique though, Tyler Perry has apologized to her, which she leaked a secret recording of recently. However, Lee has more than a few choice words for her:
“I think that people are confusing the Damon Dash [situation] with the Mo’Nique [situation]. The Damon Dash [situation] is completely different from Mo’Nique. Mo’Nique, I fought hard for her to get that job, I wanted her to get that job and um, she was paid her money. She was paid the money for the budget that we had and for her to bad mouth myself, and Tyler, and Oprah, is disrespectful and it’s wrong. SHE’S wrong, she’s out of pocket. She’s REALLY wrong…”
He went on to give her acting props, but then bashed her more, suggesting that she should be grateful for winning awards for the role:
“I respect her actor because she gave me her soul, but I gave her my soul. And for that she was given the…Golden Globe and the Academy Award. And it breaks my heart that she feels that we blackballed her. No one blackballed her. Mo’Nique blackballed her and for her to CONTINUE to talk about Oprah, and myself, and Tyler is disrespectful.”
Getting angrier by the second, Lee continued:
“I don’t understand her motive…I don’t get it, I really don’t. … We were really down with Mo.’ To get that performance form her, she had to bare her soul to me, I had to bare my soul to her. That was like making love, without having sex, you understand? … There’s LEVELS to that. And for her to think…that I could do anything?!! … I don’t know, it ain’t even worth a conversation…Like, she needs to SHUT UP.”
Mo’Nique’s Claims
In a 2018 interview on “The View,” Mo’Nique discussed the blackballing, as well as her refusal to be bullied into doing what her many White counterparts do not have to:
“They [Oprah, Tyler, and Lee] wanted me to come work for free. To go over to Cannes and promote this film internationally. I said to them, ‘Guys, my deal is with Lee Daniels and I’ve done my job.’ And they all agreed. […] And this is what happens, in my humble opinion, when you don’t go up to the hotel room,” she said. … “If I had done something wrong contractually, they would’ve sued me,” added Mo’Nique. “The reason why no one could do anything to me contractually is because they found out I did nothing wrong contractually. So, when they asked me to come overseas to promote the film — when I said, ‘Guys, I’m spending time with my family, I’m going to pass.’ […] What Tyler Perry showed me, Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey and Lionsgate, when you don’t do what we ask you to do, we’ll take your livelihood. So for eight years, my family has suffered, my career has suffered because what I would not allow those entities to do was bully me.”
Well, this probably didn’t turn out the way Mo’ would prefer, because as you can see, Lee Daniels is not gonna apologize to her, nor admit to any form of wrongdoing. On the flip side, his recent confession to doing Damon Dash dirty, only after Dash had been trying to get his millions back since 2014, now has many fans doubting Daniels’ business practices. Many now believe that Mo’Nique was right all along.
