Following their disagreement over whether integrity or money and family stability was more important in regards to standing up to Hollywood elite, the second part of Mo’Nique and Steve Harvey’s sit-down was decidedly calmer.
But that doesn’t mean the pair is completely on the same page.
Harvey explained he wants to see his sister in comedy come through to the other side of her blackballing issue, which she’s blamed squarely on Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels and Oprah Winfrey spreading the notion that she’s difficult to work with.
“You’re Mo’Nique, you’re my girl! I love you like a sister! I hate what’s happening to you,” Harvey says. “I hate what they’re saying that’s not true. I want them to know that you are caring, that you’re a great mother, that you’re an incredible talent. I don’t like the fact that you’ve been blackballed. You can be un-blackballed. You’re too talented to have to worry about all of this, where the next one coming from. … I want it to end for you, Mo’Nique, because I love you. Because these people are doing it the wrong way and you are better than that!”
Harvey admitted he should have called her sooner when he heard about her launching a boycott against Netflix, which she accused of lowballing her during negotiations for a comedy special. Still, he didn’t like the fact that the two of them, friends for more than two decades, were “sitting here arguing like this.”
“We’re not arguing,” Mo’Nique contends. “You and your sister, we havin’ a conversation and Mommy and Daddy ain’t here right now and I’m getting ready to punch you in your mouth!”
Mo’Nique then playfully puts her fist in Harvey’s face, giving a fuller picture of the Jasmine Brand’s report that there was nearly a physical confrontation during the sit-down.
And while there was no mention of Harvey threatening to go up against Mo’s manager-husband Sidney Hicks, what did make the cut were a couple of shots of the comedienne playfully pretending to punch her friend in the gut.
“I had to understand how to agree to disagree without being upset,” Mo’Nique went on. “I’m not upset with you, I love you. I disagree with the way Oprah, Tyler, and Lee did it, but I love them.”
Next, Harvey said both parties owe one another an apology.
“You are valuable to Tyler Perry, you are valuable to Oprah, to Lee Daniels,” Harvey explains. “We can’t do this without talent. You and me, we talent. … You are too valuable. I don’t want to lose your gift to the world because we trying to prove a point when we can prove the point by doing it in a more loving way.”
“I agree with you 100 percent,” Mo says. “The only way I know how to do it is loving because that’s all that’s in my heart. When I say it, you may not like the way I say it.”
Harvey, who disagreed about Mo’Nique delivering her message lovingly, proposed Mo’Nique sit down with Winfrey, Perry and Daniels and have a discussion.
“Let’s heal this thing and move forward so the world can see how great we all are,” he said. Mo’Nique, however, largely remained silent during his proposal.
While it’s not clear if Mo’Nique is quite up for the meeting, she did retweet the following quote from *ADOS (American Black descendants of slaves) commentator Yvette Carnell.
“It’s so sad to watch @moworldwide lay out the case for integrity and Steve Harvey basically answer back with a roadmap to becoming a sellout in 3 easy step. Stay strong 💪🏾 sis u got a lot of support out here.”
