Mo’Nique dissed Iyanla Vanzant during a 2013 radio interview. (Brian Stukes/Getty Images/Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Life coach Iyanla Vanzant believes folks should throw their support behind Mo’Nique because her Netflix boycott goes beyond just her personal pay issues.
“Mo’Nique can’t fight that battle by herself and people will not stand up for the battle or not stand up for the cause because it’s Mo’Nique, well, it didn’t start with Mo’Nique,” Vanzant told Madame Noir Tuesday, March 7. “So either we’re going to do it or we’re not, but don’t make this about Mo’Nique. It’s not about Mo’Nique. Mo’Nique is just saying what other people have refused to say.”
The OWN Network personality weighed in on the matter following the comic’s recent headline-making interviews where she continues to explain why she deserved more than $500,000 for a comedy special.
Vanzant further pointed out that racism’s continued prevalence in America means people shouldn’t be surprised that Mo’Nique — who alleged Netflix engaged in “color bias” and “gender bias” when discussing her deal — was lowballed compared to Amy Schumer, who got $13 million, and Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock, who each got $20 million.
“Number one, we keep acting like we’re shocked and surprised that we still living in a racist country when the president can talk about bad hombres and s—-hole countries, what is that? Why aren’t we doing something about that right there? The mere fact that brown people in this country, that we have relegated to Mexicans and we forget about Dominicans and Salvadoreans and Panamanians and all the cocoa brown people that he called bad hombres, we know that they get paid less than everybody else. So if we let them pay the brown people less, why do we think they won’t pay the Black people less? I don’t understand.”
