Mo'Nique Announces Netflix Stand-Up Special And Starring Role In Lee Daniels' Netflix Film

Mo’Nique is finally getting her things and we love to see it! The beloved comedian has faced a lot of criticism over the years for standing up for herself and speaking out against the mistreatment she received during the press campaign for Precious for which she won Best Supporting Actress in the 2010 Academy Awards. Many in the industry labeled her “difficult” and blackballed her for years as a result. Now, it appears that she has become victorious in her battle against Netflix and has repaired her friendship with one of the people she accused of blackballing her. On July 19, Mo’Nique made the surprising announcement via Netflix’s Strong Black Lead that she will be starring in her own Netflix comedy special as well as Lee Daniels’ next Netflix film, Deliverance.

“Hey y’all, it’s your girl Mo’Nique, and I’m excited to say that I’ll be shooting my first Netflix special; in addition to reuniting with my friend, director Lee Daniels on the Netflix film The Deliverance,” she said.“You won’t want to miss either of them, so stay tuned! Thank you all and I love y’all to life!” The news of her Netflix deal comes after she and the streaming giant settled the gender and race discrimination lawsuit in June.

The Academy Award-winner filed a discrimination lawsuit against Netflix in 2019 after she claimed to have received a “lowball” offer to star in her own comedy special in 2017 in comparison to other comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Amy Schumer. According to Mo’Nique, the offer was $500,000 while Chappelle and Rock received $20 million and Schumer walked away with $11 million. She also called out the streaming giant for underpaying Black women.

A year before that, Mo’Nique called for a boycott against Netflix but was met with mixed reactions. One infamous moment was when the mother of four got into a heated exchange with Charlamagne Tha God during a 2018 The Breakfast Club interview after he gave her “Donkey of the Day” for asking folks to boycott Netflix. She responded: “What you’re saying to the community is, as Black women, you’re devalued. And if you stand up and you make a stand and you say ‘We need equality and we have to say what’s right and what’s fair,” she told The Breakfast Club host. “And then a brother that looks like me from South Carolina that ‘the Donkey of the Day,’ you have to explain that to the community.”

She, however, was backed by some of her peers like Jada Pinkett Smith and fellow comedian Wanda Sykes who revealed that she too received a lowball offer from Netflix.

“.@moworldwide, thank you for speaking out. @netflix offered me less than half of your $500k. I was offended but found another home. #EPIX,” she tweeted.

While no details have come out yet about Mo’Nique and Netflix’s settlement, it’s easy to assume that The Parker’s star agreeing to do the comedy special came with a much larger payout than before.

What makes the announcement even more significant is that Mo’Nique reunited with Daniels after their fallout following Precious. The Queens of Comedy star repeatedly called out Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler Perry for blacklisting her after she refused to do certain things during her press tour for the film. In an interview with Steve Harvey on his now-defunct talk show, Mo’Nique revealed the cause of her rift with the Black Hollywood elite. “We got labeled as ‘difficult’ because I said one word — and that was ‘no,'” she said of her and her husband/ manager Sidney Hicks.

“Now I said no to some very powerful people.. .the difficulty came in when people that looked like me, like Oprah, Tyler, Lee Daniels and I got to put my brother Steve on the list,” she added. “Y’all knew that I was not wrong. Each one of you said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’re not wrong.’ And when I heard you go on the air and say, ‘My sister burned too many bridges, and it’s nothing I can do for her now,’ Steve, do you know how hurt I was?”

Mo’Nique and Daniels reconciled publicly in April after the director brought her on stage at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island and apologized to her.

“It took me a long time to realize. I am so sorry for hurting you in any way,” he said.

“She was my best friend y’all — my best friend. Y’all think that Precious was just [us]? That wasn’t. That was God working through both of us. And we gonna f—king do it again!”

Along with The Deliverance, Mo’Nique will also be starring in Daniels’ Netflix thriller Demon House.

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