Mo’Nique Says She Was “Blackballed” From Hollywood For Not Playing The Game

February 19, 2015 / Posted by:

When Mo’Nique won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2010 for Precious, she used her time on stage to throw two burning hot side-eyes at the Oscar campaign game by thanking the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not about politics. During Oscar campaign time, Mo’Nique didn’t go to many events and she refused to use her lips to suck on the ass flaps of voters to get that trophy in her hands. She was the anti-Benedict Cumberbatch. After her win, all the doors she thought were going to open up because of her win never opened. And just a few months ago she was told by Lee Daniels, the director of Precious, that if Hollywood was John Travolta, then she’d big a big old pussy, because nobody wants to touch her.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mo’Nique says that after she won the Oscar, she thought that she’d get offered better roles and more cash, but that didn’t happen. Mo’Nique was supposed to play Oprah’s role in The Butler and she was in talks to be on Empire, but a few months ago, Lee Daniels dramatically called her up and told her that she’d been “blackballed” for not playing the game. (“You say ‘blackballed’ like it’s a bad thing. It made me A STAH!” said Kim Kartrashian). The Empire role went away, The Butler role went away and so did a role as Richard Pryor’s grandma in a biopic:

“Well, actually, I was offered the role in The Butler that Oprah Winfrey played. I was also approached by Empire to be on Empire. And I was also offered the role as Richard Pryor’s grandmother in [Daniels’ upcoming Pryor biopic]. Each of those things that he offered me was taken off the table. (Laughs.) They all just went away. But that’s just part of the business, you know? I can’t be upset at anybody, ’cause life is too good. It’s just what it is.

I got a phone call from Lee Daniels maybe six or seven months ago. And he said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’ve been blackballed.’ And I said, ‘I’ve been blackballed? Why have I been blackballed?’ And he said, ‘Because you didn’t play the game.’ And I said, ‘Well, what game is that?’ And he gave me no response.

She went on to say that she’s heard that some people in the industry think she’s difficult to work with.

The drama of it all. I can picture Lee Daniels saying, “you’ve been blackbaaaaaaaaaaalled,” while wearing a red velvet smoking jacket and stroking a fluffy white Persian pussy as the violinist he hired to add another touch of theater to the moment played Chopin in the background. Who says that shit?

In a statement to the THR, Lee Daniels pretty much confirmed what Mo’Nique said.

“Mo’nique is a creative force to be reckoned with. Her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community. I consider her a friend. 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.”

Translation: “OPRAH TOLD ME TO BLACKBALL HER!

Mo’Nique and THR left out the part where she wouldn’t do press for Precious because they didn’t pay her. Mo’Nique later said that she would have had to take time away from her talk show to do press and that would have cost her cash:

“Well, when they say Mo’Nique was worried about money, I wasn’t worried about money. Mo’Nique has a talk show that comes on five nights a week and she tapes six times a week for that talk show. And yes, when I leave my home, I leave my home and get paid to leave my home, so I wasn’t worried about money. They simply said, “You know, well Mo’Nique we can’t pay you to do that.” … We said, “OK, baby. Well, then, that’s not something we can do.”

It sounds to me like Lee Daniels is the one blackballing her since she’s been axed from all of his projects (Empire, The Butler and the Richard Pryor biopic). Both The Butler role and the Richard Pryor role have gone to his new muse Oprah.

But whatever, Mo’Nique doesn’t need Lee Daniels or Oprah or those roles. She has her Oscar and she can say that she was a part of television’s real golden age because she hosted Charm School on Vh1. Can Oprah say that she ever shared the screen with Hottie from Flavor of Love? Nope. Therefore, Mo’Nique wins and Lee Daniels and Oprah lose! (I know I’m already booked in business class for a jet ride straight to Hell, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been downgraded to the cargo section for saying that Oprah loses.)

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