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Longtime Friend Sheryl Underwood Says Offering an Apology Could Benefit Mo’Nique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JljJlSKdST0

Sheryl Underwood is weighing in on her friend Mo’Nique’s viral comments toward Lee Daniels, Oprah and Tyler Perry, and Underwood says she’s worried about her.

“You’re in the Apollo [Theater], so you gotta keep it real in the Apollo and she used a lot of street terms to voice what I consider her frustrations,” Underwood says of Mo’Nique on “The Talk” Monday, May 15. “When we got into the game, we wanted to change the game, so whatever that rule was, we wanted to kinda bust that rule open.”

Mo’Nique went viral for telling Perry, Daniels, and Oprah during her stand-up act that they could “suck my d— if I had one” because she had been blackballed in Hollywood.

Underwood said Mo’Nique gave her one of her first gigs as a comedian and was one of the first women to own her own club.

“I feel this is unfortunate because we love Lee Daniels and what he’s doing,” Underwood says. “We love Tyler Perry, we love Oprah Winfrey, and if there is a way for us to settle this … She’s an amazing actress and an amazing comic, so somehow we have to settle this together. And the hard part about this is other people make demands and they still get the work.

“I’m not saying I agree with what she did, I’m just saying I’m concerned about my friend right now.”

Co-host Julie Chen wondered if it was true that Mo’Nique was difficult to work with, as Daniels told CNN in 2015. Chen said apologizing could open some employment opportunities for Mo’Nique.

Underwood agreed, saying she faced a similar situation due to her “argumentative” ways.

“I was doing a lot of things that sabotaged my career,” she says. “But I sat down with somebody I respected … and they were a person enough to tell me to my face, ‘You are blowing this! And if you don’t shut the hell up, you’re going to blow your life and your career!’ … And I listened and I came in on time, but also, I knew when I was asking for something outrageous or letting someone speak for me to ask for something outrageous and go, ‘You can’t be Billy Badass on my name!’ And that’s why I can’t get a job.”

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