Mo’Nique has been very vocal about her complaints about Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey.
In fact, she feels like all three played a role in the cooling off period she experienced after she won as Oscar for “Precious.”
Interestingly enough, she feels that a very white list of the highest paid actresses published by Forbes recently proves that her grievances about the business should be taken seriously.
During a recent podcast with her husband, Monique said the following about the huge pay gap women of color are subjected to as actresses:
“So when you see a list like this, number ten, Amy Adams is at $11.5 million, do you know that would be one of the biggest paydays for a black woman actress in Hollywood? If we got anywhere near that number? We would be considered a got damn Rockefuller. Not a feller, a Rockerfuller. If we got anywhere near that number…$11.5 million and that’s in one year. Some of us won’t make that over the span of our careers. And I’m talking about Oscar Award winners. I’m talking about Oscar nominees, I’m talking about Golden Globe winners. Golden Globe nominees. Women of color, we won’t see that $11.5 million and if we do, we consider that huge. Huge. So when we say is there racism in Hollywood, well what do y’all think?”
She also explained why black movie makers are problematic as well:
“I want to address this because it’s on me to address this because when you read some of the comments in the room, and we automatically think that it is white to black racism in Hollywood. We automatically think all those white studio heads won’t give us the right opportunities and some of that is true. Some white studio heads are like, ‘F*ck that, we’re gonna keep it the way it was in Old Hollywood. Make them famous, don’t make them rich.’ But let me pull y’all coattails on something. There are some black ones that do the same exact thing. There are some black ones that are the biggest racists in Hollywood with some of the comments they make and some of the situations that they know they put us in. And they sit back and say absolutely nothing. So when we want to pass it off and say, ‘Oh it’s the white executives not giving us opportunities,’ then you have to look at Lee Daniels and you have to hear that man say your husband’s over bidding you.”
She then said she was offered the role of Richard Pryor’s grandmother for $300,000 in the upcoming biopic and that’s absurd considering it’s a big budget movie. She turned it down and she clams Lee Daniels told her that her husband is over bidding her.
Her husband Sidney added that $300,000 for the role is less than she received for her role in “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins,” a role she got before winning an Oscar.
Mo’Nique also had some interesting opinions regarding Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis and the success of Girls Trip:
“So when you first come into this place and you see the money you’re gonna make, it’s more money than you’ve ever known anybody to make that you hang around with. But once you actually get into the business and you begin to realize how much money is being made and how much money you’re being paid, that’s a huge gap. So when we see this list of these ten white actresses…let me say this, it’s not that they’re not deserving, I’m not saying that not one of these sisters on this list don’t deserve their payday cause got damn it if they putting in the numbers they deserve it. However, you would have to say what’s different with these sisters than Viola Davis? What different with these sisters than Taraji P. Henson?
“Girl’s Trip made over 100 million dollars.
“It made over 100 million dollars. It was shot as low budget. Now in my humble opinion, now this is just my humble opinion, Tiffany Haddish, our sister Queen Latifah…Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, they should have all become multimillionaires off of that film.”
You can listen to the podcast in full here.
Now this I actually agree with.
Right! Lately I’ve been like she needs to sit down but she got it right this time!
I definitely believe this about black executives. This is true for any company I ever worked for also. The black directors and managers would be guilty of sexism and racism too. And this is also why I don’t stand behind white actresses complaining about their pay, because they never address the gap between them and black actresses.
I mean she made some good points. Especially when Taraji and Viola alone are better than 95% of that list. But this ain’t new. It’s been going on for a long time. That’s why when people of color get in positions of power, they need to step up and compensate us fairly (I’m looking at you Tyler, Will, Lee).
The thing is a lot of black people are brainwashed. We don’t think we deserve equality even though we are always demanding it.
See I was one of the few who was Team Mo’Nique when she first started speaking out. It was sad to see so many black people telling her to b e quiet and accept the scraps she was getting when mediocre white actresses like Jennifer Lawrence are getting wealthy to put out these boring movies. Now this list comes out and people want to cry foul when they were the same ones telling Mo’Nique she was bitter and needs to shut up. Whatever!
She’s not saying anything new – we all know this. What I find interesting is that she’s been in the business for donkey years and was cool with everything till she didn’t get what she wanted. Now suddenly she has to be the spokesperson for black women being paid their worth? C’mon now, she’s being self serving. And notice how every damn thing she has to say always leads back to some jab at Lee Daniels. She’s got a personal vendetta against that man and she’ll use whoever she can to join her in speaking ill of him. Y’all may think she’s speaking something new but Monique is recycling old news to talk about why Lee Daniels didn’t offer her more money. Simple!
Standing O..clap clap
Broken clock and all that.
I mean she ain’t lying but I still think she’s bitter.
Glad I actually read this. I saw the title and rolled my eyes thinking she was on her pessimist G-wagon.
She said some real sh-t. But I think Viola has peeped game because she has her own production company now.
The truth is the truth. I don’t know what her motives are but black actresses have been severely underpaid forever. Nothing will change if we keep pretending it’s not happening. And this is why I cringe when white actresses moan about equal pay. They are making 10 times as much as actresses of color. I don’t see them speaking up about that though. Fake feminists.