Since winning an Oscar in 2010 for her devastating performance as an abusive mother in Lee Daniels’s film Precious, Mo’Nique has acted in just four films. In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress famously claimed it was because she had been “blackballed.”
She explained:
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.
In response to the piece, Daniels explained what he meant, writing:
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.
Two years later (and one well-received Bessie Smith biopic later), Mo’Nique is still hopping mad, but her anger is no longer confined to Daniels.
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During a performance at New York’s Apollo theater this weekend, she took to the stage (isn’t that more fun than “taking to Twitter”?) and shared her frustrations with the audience, claiming she was never “blackballed” at all. No, she was “whiteballed.”
Her comments were filmed by an audience member, who later uploaded the video to Instagram. Here’s what she said:
“What is that black dick connected to? That black man? So no, I was not blackballed. I was whiteballed by some black dicks who have no balls. Thank you, Mr. Lee Daniels. Thank you, Mr. Tyler Perry. Thank you, Ms. Oprah Winfrey. See, I know they like to say, ‘Mo’Nique, you talk too motherfuckin’ much.’ It would kill me not to say the real shit. You are not paying me equally. You are not treating me fairly, so you can suck my dick if I had one.”
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Mo’Nique then doubled down in an interview with TMZ where her husband Sidney Hicks made an appearance. “They stood by and they allowed the statements of her difficulty,” Hicks said.
I...I need to know more about this.
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You know what I don’t need to know much more about? David Cross’s diet. His wife Amber Tamblyn revealed to People that after a recent celebration for her directorial debut that included “a giant glass of bourbon,” she was unable to feed their baby the resulting breast milk.
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Unwilling to let the tainted milk go down the drain, Cross asked if he could drink it instead. Said Tamblyn, “He said it was creamy. He liked it — of course he did!”
Of course he did!
Of course he did!
Of course he did!
[People]
Amazing star of Unfaithful and Under the Tuscan Sun Diane Lane was asked 1) if she could give Justice League spoilers, and 2) if Justice League would be better than The Avengers. She said, “No and no!”
[ONTD]
- Good for Rita. [ONTD]
- “And Katie, we call each other and we can cry together.” I love being reminded that Goldie calls Kate Hudson “Katie.” [Celebitchy]
- This story about Elle King’s secret wedding and secret divorce (two things that are no longer secrets) is one big uncomfortable Chrissy Teigen smile. [Us Weekly]
- This morning I realized something new that makes me sick: aggregated interviews with Brad Pitt that include “On hubris:” [Celebitchy]
- We have Cheryl to blame for Bear. [ONTD]
- This story is so awful. [TMZ]
