By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Oscar-winning actress Mo’Nique has been making headlines for months now because she’s been clashing with “Empire” creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong.
Mo’Nique says Lee told her she had been blackballed by Hollywood after informing her that she was no longer in the running to play Cookie, but Danny claimed on Twitter that Mo’Nique was never considered for the role and Taraji was always the first choice.
Well it looks Mo’Nique was telling the truth.
She sat down with Sway Calloway to set the record straight and she provided emails that back up her story.
When asked why she brought the receipts, she says:
“When people were making it seem like I was pulling something out of the air, and I was just trying to attack this brother, I’m like I have the emails and the communication going back and forth with Lee Daniels. It was a conversation we had then I get the email from his office. Me and Lee had a conversation about the role of Cookie. And all I was saying was don’t attack my character. Just say what the conversation was. That’s it. It makes no one look good or bad it’s just it is what it was. But he began to say things that just wasn’t true. That’s when I had to say, ‘brother I can’t allow you to do that.’
“Because when you start putting my character on the line…I take pride in my career. I take pride in my integrity. I take pride in my character. But when you put it on the line like that and people begin to question me about my character who know me…so I wanted to bring the emails to you.”
Check out the video below. Sway starts reading the emails at the 6:50 mark.
Spotted at Talk Your Ish Blog
She still needs to shut the f-ck up about this though. How is dragging this out helping her career?
Ok. She was telling the truth. Now what?
Well now I feel bad about telling her to sit down. But she still needs to sit down though. Even though Lee lied, she looks real petty. And I can’t see anyone but Taraji being Cookie.
They owe her an apology.
She won’t get one. Lee is known for being petty. He’s going to make her wish she stayed quiet.
I was one of the few people who did believe Monique but it doesn’t matter and quite frankly it never mattered. Yes she was telling the truth but is it worth her career. Monique done f-cked up she still has not learned her lesson keep your mouth quiet girl truth or not because you never mess with a queen they will take your a-s down quickly and that’s exactly what Lee did. She has proved to be a rat and ain’t nobody going to want to work with her now.
Can she go at least one damn day without saying baby, suga, brotha or sista?
lol
LOL.
If she thought she was blackballed before…
I think this was all about ego. Mo needed Taraji to know she was Cookie first. I can see right through this.
But it was Danny Strong, not Lee who said she was never considered for the role. She has emails for a first screening, but nothing after that date. So, are there receipts to show she actually auditioned for the role? Cuz these emails ain’t saying nothing to me at all if she didn’t audition for the director. And, Monique was the one who did the interview and said Lee told her she’d been blackballed, then she started backtracking. I just think she needs to just the f-ck up, and stop burning bridges.
I can’t knock her for bringing the proof but this doesn’t make the hard to work with rumors go away. It just fuels them. Why did we even need to know she was considered for the role? If she was really happy for Taraji, she would let her have her moment. Instead she’s still talking about how the part was hers first. She’s not as nice as she wants people to believe. She’s a passive aggressive mess.
This woman just won’t stop.
She has to move on. She is the only one still talking about this. At the end of the day, the part went to Taraji. She’s killing it. And I don’t think Mo’Nique could have done the same.
Can y’all imagine Mo’Nique nailing that lingerie scene? Yuck.
This has become a hot mess. I’m embarrassed for all of them.
I wish she would shut up.
Damn she’s still on this? Well now that she brought out the emails, hopefully she can move on now.
Sometimes you have to clear your name but this is borderline becoming frustrating. I hope she stops talking about this now.
Sway got the answers this time tho.
She was telling the truth all long but see how slow people will be to report this? That’s messed up.