Mo’Nique is not letting up on defending her “sister in comedy” Roseanne Barr.
Months after Barr lost her revived ABC sitcom “Roseanne” when she tweeted a racist joke about former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, Mo’Nique is addressing why she continues to stand by the disgraced star.
Barr’s sitcom was promptly canceled and she was killed off the spinoff show after stirring controversy for tweeting, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
While remarking on her 2009-2015 talk show, “The Mo’Nique Show,” giving a shot to any level of celebrity, Mo’Nique explained being open to everyone meant she couldn’t turn her back on Barr.
“That’s why, when people turned on my sister Roseanne Barr, I couldn’t do it,” she told the Chicago Tribune in a Nov. 12 interview. “Because there were black entertainers who would not come on ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ because it was quote-unquote ‘too black.’ But when I called on my sista, she said (imitating Barr): ‘Where is it and what time you need me to come?’ And when she showed up, when the cameras weren’t rolling, she said to me: ‘Listen, you’re the real deal. Don’t let them use you up and take advantage of you, because they will. Don’t you let them do that to you.’ Now, a racist woman ain’t gonna say that to me.”
When the reporter pointed out how clearly racist Barr’s tweet was, Mo’Nique maintained her stance. She also explained the comedians had several private conversations and explained the meaning behind her joke.
“I’m gonna say this: We’re comedians. And I know her. And what she thought was funny, as a comedian, that’s what it was,” she said before adding, “When we talked privately — and we’ve talked privately a lot — she’ll break her jokes down and I’ll know where they’re coming from. She’s like, ‘Listen, you know how I grew up, so how could I start making fun of anybody? I’m not trying to hurt anybody.’ Has she ever said, ‘Kill black people?'”
Mo’Nique added that Barr has advocated for Black concert promoters and is pushing for a Malcolm X documentary “with a brother who’s a Muslim.”
“So when I know about this these things personally, did my sista say some things in poor taste? Some people could say yes. But what I won’t label her is a racist. When she sends me a DM that says, ‘My love, we will rise again like the Phoenix’ — a racist woman wouldn’t do that, would she?”
“There are some people who are downright racist and they say, ‘I hate everything that ain’t white.’ I get that,” Mo’Nique continued on. “Then you have those — which is a lot of white people — when you really sit down and talk to them, you see their heart is good they’ve just been conditioned to be that way. These conversations will heal us. And when people started calling me ‘sellout’ and ‘you a mammy’ — I’ll take those words, but when people sit down and talk to me about Roseanne, it gives me an opportunity to say who she is.”
Mo’Nique also maintained that her personal relationship with Barr gives her a different perspective.
“If I didn’t know her, lemme tell you something, don’t you think I’d be sitting right next to you?” she said. “If I didn’t know that woman personally, I’d be sitting right there saying, ‘That racist (jerk)!’ But I know her personally. I know her when the cameras ain’t rolling. I know her when she gains nothing from pulling me up.”
Regardless of all “The Parkers” star’s explaining, Twitter users remained unmoved.
“First she gassed up fat women then lost weight. Now Roseanne. Monique never loved y’all 😔😔😔😒😒😒”
“Monique need to sit down. Was Roseanne at war for her Netflix check?”
“Mo’Nique. Sit down. You’re canceled, just like Roseanne’s show and your nonexistent Netflix special.”
