Mo’Nique is speaking out against entertainment industry practices she’s calling “unfair.”
In a video shared to Instagram Tuesday, September 19, the Academy Award winning-actress called out CBS with hopes that the network will “fairly” compensate her and Countess Vaughn for their hit 2000s show, The Parkers.
Monique, alongside her producer husband, Sydney Hicks, started out by acknowledging the ongoing WGA/ SAG-AFTRA strikes, saying they stand in solidarity with “all the unions that are striking right now.”
She continued with a story of her own that she “must share with the community.”
“Countess Vaughn and I did a show called The Parkers. The Parkers has now been on air for 24 years, and they’re trying to convince us, through our ownership of the show, that we made absolutely no money,” Mo’Nique said.
Hicks added that the accusations are “baffling” considering “conversations had with executive producers” that allude to the fact that over the course of the five-year-run, the show, “made for under $70 million,” made a $700 million profit.
“So what we’re asking you, CBS, is can you please treat these two Black women fairly?” Mo’Nique said, before going on to describe a “bad deal” fellow comedian Dave Chappelle signed with CBS.
“The were able to go back and do the right thing,” she said. “And that made that deal fair and they paid Dave Chapelle what he rightfully deserved.”
“What we’re asking you, CBS: don’t pay us anymore but don’t pay us any less,” Mo’Nique said, adding, “CBS, will you treat us fairly?”
In a follow-up response, Vaughn addressed online comments that Mo’Nique’s accusations were false.
“Yes, give us our money,” she said.
All of this follows an April lawsuit filed by Mo’Nique over unpaid royalties from The Parkers.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
