Mo'Nique, Mo Problems

on the elitist suppression of proletarian humor

While Hollywood is ripe to join a movement and profess their dedication to its aims, they are rarely willing to sincerely compromise their hireability and status. It wasn’t A-listers who started the WGA and SAG AFTRA’s current ongoing strike. Active dissent is usually initiated by the players on the periphery. Extras. Unheard of young actresses. Day players. And then there’s Mo’Nique. 

The Hollywood actress, Queen of Comedy, and one-time late-night talk show host made robust personal claims of inequality and mistreatment back some years ago. If you aren’t familiar, the trouble surrounding Mo’Nique started when she was promoting the film Precious, which she had agreed to do for $50,000 (a number below her status at the time), because of her friendship with the film’s director, Lee Daniels, and because she liked the script. 

After its screening at Sundance, Tyler Perry and Oprah–both friends with Mo’Nique–had signed on as executive producers. When they asked Mo’Nique to help promote the film abroad, as it was being screened at Cannes, Mo’Nique inquired about the payment. When she was told no additional payment would be offered, she “respectfully declined.” This was the beginning of when Mo’Nique says she was labeled “difficult.”

Her rift with Oprah swelled when her brother, who had sexually abused her for years starting at the age of 7, appeared on Winfrey’s talk show with other family members after Mo’Nique explicitly asked Oprah to not have the additional family members on. She ultimately felt betrayed. If there was any confusion about how Mo’Nique was starting to feel about her one-time friends, that was cleared up when in a standup performance in 2017 she addressed Perry, Daniels, and Winfrey, saying they could “suck my d*ck if I had one.”