“It wasn’t that I was blackballed like Mr. Daniels said… the phone was ringing and the scripts were coming but the offers that were associated with them made me say ‘I can’t accept that,’” she explained, adding that taking such offers would have sent a negative message to other African-American women.
“If we continue to accept these low offers, how do we make a change?” she asked.
Quote:
“I think that there were demands that were made on the ‘Precious’ campaign that everyone knows hurt her. I told her that,” said the director. “You’ve gotta play ball. This is not just show — it is show business.”
Mo’Nique told Lemon she watched Daniels’ interview on television and was stunned by what he said. “It shocked me… I was yelling at the screen, ‘Don, please ask him what the demands were!'”
She continued, “There were no demands, there was a request from the movie studio that I fly to France for the Cannes Film Festival. I simply said, ‘I respectfully decline.'”
She explained that she was busy working on her late-night talk show on BET and had additional responsibilities as “a wife and a mommy.”
“I had a couple of days downtime and I wanted to spend that with my husband and my kids,” she said. However, Mo’Nique said the studio [Lionsgate] continued to pressure her with an offer to upgrade her hotel in France, but again she declined. When the third call came asking: “What is it going to take to get Mo’Nique to the Cannes Film Festival?” her husband, who served as her manager, asked: “Is there a number associated with it?”
According to the actress, the studio responded that it would never pay for anyone to do promotional work for a movie, and Mo’Nique pointed out that she only received $50,000 for her role in “Precious.” She also hinted that perhaps there should have been compensation offered for travel to promote the movie.
Not really sure what to make of all this. The reports are conflicting to say the least. I wish her baby, Don pushed for further clarification on why she couldnt accept the offers that were coming her way. What I got from it was that the characters were caricature stereotypes of black women.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
its important for people to have standards that they stick too, she has a family and other commitments, why would she fly to france on her days off for free? i would've done the exact same as she did
Black women are capable of playing more than just degrading black roles like a maid, a slave, a woman from the ghetto/projects. I'd like to see black people play more positive and empowering roles.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
Honestly getting 50K for a role then being pressured into going places to promote when she has another source of income she's dedicated to does seem a good excuse. I hope everything works out, no need for the drama they should save it for the silver screen but I'm glad she's defending herself.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
This is not only a PoC issue, but it is also an issue for women. Lee said himself that she was "making unreal demands" or something. Of course when a woman demands something she is deemed difficult, especially if she is black. I absolutely agree on her point of not taking offers because it is not setting a high standard for her peers and future black actresses. Honestly, as for the lack of PoC being nominated for Oscars: I blame the writers, directors and casting crews. There is HUGE black talent out there, but they aren't being cast for the major roles. The lead in Interstellar could have been black, the lead in Birdman could have been black, even the couple in Gone Girl.
If a white man won an Oscar and demanded more money he would be catered to IMMEDIATELY.
This is not a race issue, this is a Mo'Nique issue. She has always been repellent, loud, and obnoxious -- she literally made a career out of it. I don't believe her "I'm the victim" story for a second. And "Precious" was a small budget, Oscar bait film. She's lucky she was paid $50,000 at all, seeing as she had zero serious roles before the film. And let's not pretend Mo'Nique was being paid millions of dollars to do her long list of awful films like "Beerfest" or "Phat Girlz" or "Garfield: The Movie" or "Hair Show," et cetera. Lee Daniels is definitely more credible than Mo'Nique and his side of the story is most likely true.
Very well spoken Mo!
