Mo’Nique won’t back down from her call to boycott Netflix.
The 50-year-old comedian went into more detail about her contract negotiations for a comedy special on “Sway in the Morning” on Friday.
“When we get the deal, the deal is for $500,000. My husband Sidney [Hicks], who is also my manager, asked Robbie Pearl, who is the vice-president at Netflix of comedy, he said, ‘Can you please explain why Mo’Nique gets this deal, and Amy Schumer gets this deal, and Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock get this deal?’ And rightfully so,” she said. “They should get what they’re getting.”
Mo’Nique claimed that Pearl wouldn’t make time to speak with her or Hicks until they threatened to go public with allegations of racial discrimination. At that point, Mo’Nique claims, her and Netflix’s attorneys spoke and agreed to come back with another number — but then Netflix nixed the deal altogether, despite Pearl allegedly calling her a “legend.”
“Please let me be clear: Sister Amy Schumer [is] supposed to get what she gets. If that’s what her people negotiated, that’s what she gets,”Mo’Nique said. “What we’re saying is, how come I’m $12.5 million different from Amy Schumer, $19.5 million different from Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle?”
That sense of diplomacy was gone Monday night, when she and Hicks recorded an Instagram video in front of shelves filled with her awards.
“In 2017, Amy Schumer did a film called ‘Snatched.’ That film made $45 million domestically,” Mo’Nique said in the clip. “In 2016, I did a film called ‘Almost Christmas.’ That film made $42 million domestically. Amy Schumer’s budget for ‘Snatched’ was $42 million … ‘Almost Christmas’’ budget was $17 million … Could somebody please make it make sense?”
Still, Mo’Nique may have been selective with her box office comparisons: “Trainwreck,” Schumer’s 2015 star vehicle, earned nearly $141 million on a $35 million budget, and Schumer’s deal with Netflix was signed before “Snatched” was released.
Schumer, 36, famously demanded more than the $11 million Netflix initially offered her for a special, citing Rock and Chappelle’s heftier paydays, and ended up negotiating for $13 million.
But Mo’Nique’s reasons for her monetary demands aren’t just about her own wallet, she insisted.
“I couldn’t accept that low offer, because if I did … I couldn’t sleep at night,” she told “Sway in the Morning.” “I say this humbly: I am the most decorated comedian alive. But if I accepted $500,000, what does Tiffany Haddish have coming? If I accept that, what does the black female comedian have coming? Because what they’ll say is, ‘Mo’Nique accepted this and she’s got that.’ So what do they have coming?”
She then called out Sheryl Underwood, Julie Chen, Adrienne Bailon and Kym Whiteley for suggesting she apologize, alleging that their discouragement of her speaking out was akin to being complicit in rape.
“These are four women of color saying, ‘Mo’Nique needs to just let it go. Mo’Nique needs to be humble. Maybe if she apologizes, they’ll let her back in,'” she said. “I would ask those four women of color, ‘Did you ask any of those white women to apologize when they said they were violated by Harvey Weinstein? Did you ask any of them to be humble?’ Did you tell any of them, ‘If you speak too loud, it doesn’t mean you’re right?’ ”
The “Precious” star then lashed out at several old frenemies whom she’d previously blasted for allegedly blackballing her.
“It’s affecting my livelihood. My family is hurting because these low offers keep coming in … When those four entities, Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry and Lionsgate, allowed that lie to go on and simply because I would not work for free,” she continued. “So when Lee Daniels said, ‘You gotta play the game,’ that has a lot of meanings to it. It means, ‘If I bend you over and rape you, you know not to talk because I can ruin your career … If I want you to be a slave and work for free, you know not to talk because I can ruin your career.’ ”
“So when Netflix came in with this low offer, ‘See the buzz is she’s difficult, she’s demanding and she’s black, we definitely don’t have to respect her.’ So that’s why I’m saying we must boycott Netflix until they treat female comedians of color fairly.”
However, despite the bridges she’s burned, Mo’Nique has at least one celebrity in her corner — Jada Pinkett-Smith.
“You don’t have to like Mo’Nique’s approach. You don’t have to agree with her boycott but don’t allow all of that to make you blind to the fact that non-white women and impoverished white women are underpaid, underrepresented and undervalued EVERYWHERE by EVERYONE,” Pinkett-Smith, 46, tweeted Tuesday, adding, “As a community, we should be supporting the light she is shining on this truth.”
Reps for Daniels, Perry, Winfrey, Schumer and Netflix did not immediately return requests for comment. Last week, Netflix told Page Six it does not comment on contract negotiations.