‘I Was Making a Joke and You Got Tender’: Mo’Nique and Her Husband Address Fallout with D.L. Hughley on Instagram Live

Comedian Mo’Nique and her husband, Sidney Hicks, have taken to social media to give their audience the backstory surrounding the beef between them and the King of Comedy D.L. Hughley. The couple hopped on Instagram Live following D.L.’s recent response to the drama on his radio show.

The Oscar winner went into detail about their history and says she was betrayed first when he blindsided her on his radio show.

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Mo’Nique and Sidney Hicks (L) and D.L. Hughley (R). Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images, Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the two appeared on the same comedy card at the Fox Theatre. During her set, the Queen of Comedy accused Hughley of having her name removed as the headliner of the bill — and refused to go on if she closed the show.

“Y’all don’t understand the fight had to go through to stand in front of y’all tonight,” Mo’Nique told the crowd at the 105.9 KISS-FM The Comedy Explosion show.

“That’s what the [expletive] contract says,” she continued. “Mo’Nique is to be the last [expletive] person on the [expletive] stage. She is the headliner. That’s what I signed the [contract for].”

Hughley didn’t let too much time to follow up swinging, captioning on his Instagram, “against my better judgment, over the objections of my team and 4 other occasions where I said NO, I decided to take a chance and work with Monique,” before seemingly suggesting that Mo’Nique was at fault in the feuds she’s had with notable figures including Oprah Winfrey and Steve Harvey. 

“At some point, it can’t be everyone else, IT’S YOU!!” the 59-year-old continued. “Lesson learned. I didn’t have anything personal against Monique… People paid a lot of money to laugh, not hear about your contract.”

He even posted his deal memo to support his understanding of the performance.

50 Cent’s new bestie took a page from her brother and posted what she purported was the contract, further blasting the funnyman-turned-radio personality. But not to be outdone, Hughley dissected her contract and said since it listed “Hicks Media,” her company, he smelled “bullsh*t.”

On an over 1-hour Instagram Live, the Hicks explained where the conflict stemmed from and cleared up whether they believe D.L. is actually gay.

“Well, I thought I was coming back being clever, making a joke,” she said. “’Cause you know back in the day when somebody was on the DL, you know what they were. I don’t think you’re a homosexual man. I was making a joke.” 

“I can’t believe you got tender,” the “Precious” star continued. 

“See you got tender after you’ve talked for years. So let me be clear to you babies watching. Saturday night, I don’t care where I went up on that stage, I was going to hand D.L. Hughley his ass because through the years I’ve listened to this man speak so freely about my poor decisions, my life choices. And he spoke as if we had a conversation sitting down talking.” 

Sidney asked her to explain why she felt “blindsided” by Hughley and why she felt safe about coming on his show. Mo’Nique said she felt safe because the two had history.

“Y’all,” she started to explain. “I’m one of them old school kind of girls. I’m one of them old school around the way, down the block kind of girls.”

“Back in the 90s and I was opening up for D.L. Hughley,” she shared, saying she was “excited he was doing a comedy club in upper Maryland.” 

She explained because the comedy show was the same evening as the Mike Tyson fight, less than a dozen people showed up to the show.

“We get there it’s 10 people. I say, ‘Hey, D.L., so tonight’s not a total bust, why don’t you and your audience — ’cause they came to see him — come on back to my house,’” she recalled. “We can watch the fight. I’ll fix some food. Let’s have a good time.”

“I invite this man back to my home. Now, I don’t know about y’all, but my home is my sacred place but I invite him and his audience back so people wouldn’t walk away disappointed that there was no show,” she said. “So, that’s why I felt like from that moment to the moment I did his radio show (and they tried to come with foolishness), I always thought D.L. Hughley and I were cool.”

Fans commented on her post of the live calling the two “real warriors.”

Someone else said, “I stand with Mo!!! I love how you love you! AND how ya hubby got ya six no matter what!”

One more advised her, “No need to step down from your throne queen. You are powerful.”

But a few people were there to get the tea, asking, “Where my popcorn?”

Hughley has not responded.

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