Comedian Mo’Nique may have just entered a season of vindication, as recent conversations about Black actresses’ fight to receive equitable pay for their work have been renewed by Taraji P. Henson.
“The Color Purple” actress sparked a flood of headlines when she emotionally admitted that quitting the profession has become a real possibility as she has grown tired of constantly having to fight to be paid her worth despite having proven her skills and ability to carry box office and television successes.
Henson’s plight, which several notable actresses, such as Gabrielle Union and Viola Davis, have co-signed, has generated a resurgence of social calls for Mo’Nique to receive her flowers for speaking out on the issue over a decade ago.
“No one stood with Monique when she was trying to tell yall!!! Instead yall wat her her for years get black balled… I have no words for yall,” read a comment on a post shared by The Jasmine Brand.
Other remarks included “Mo is owed a HUGE Apology from black Hollywood” and “Mo’nique tried to tell y’all years ago and people were saying she was complaining too much. Now look! Surprise! Surprise! Another black actress is singing the same song.”
The “Precious” star’s problem began when she was allegedly blackballed after refusing to promote the film outside of the parameters of her contract and without pay. She was accused of making onerous demands, and despite winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the 2009 flick, she claimed that subsequent acting gigs lowballed her salary act skill.
I wish we’d stop bringing up Mo’Nique, as if her argument about her stand up special was exactly the same and it was not. We should be bringing up Viola Davis when she mentioned that she has the same résumé as a Glenn Close or Meryl Streep and her pay is nowhere near the same. https://t.co/y8eg7rQFuB pic.twitter.com/JdK70lD2Qj
— beats gordy (@beatsgordy) December 21, 2023
“The offers made me say, ‘Guys, I can’t accept that.’ ‘Cause if I accept that and I won the award, what are my sisters being offered that didn’t win the award or wasn’t nominated?” said Mo’Nique during a 2015 interview with former CNN anchor Don Lemon about being ostracized by Hollywood.
She asked, “And what does it say to the little girl who’s not here yet that if we continue to accept these low offers, how ever do we make it different and make a change?”
Davis, who became an EGOT with her Grammy win in February, has long publicized the disparity in pay and role types between Black and white actresses. While speaking at the 2018 Women in the World panel, the “How to Get Away With Murder” star said she and her peers earn a tenth of their white female leads.
“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver, they all came out of Yale…Juliard…NYU. They had the same path as me and yet,I am nowhere near them not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities,” said Davis.
“Nowhere close to it and yet I have to constantly get on that phone —and I have fabulous agents by the way, they are getting it —but I have to get on that phone and people say, ‘You’re a Black Meryl Streep.’.. Pay me what I’m worth. You give me what I’m worth.”
Mo’Nique marked her return this year when she landed a comedy special, “My Name is Mo’Nique,” on Netlfix, years after a dicey lawsuit accusing them of racial discrimination in making a lowball opening offer to her for a comedy special. She is currently in the midst of a suit against Paramount over alleged unpaid royalties for her work on “The Parkers.”
