Mo’Nique Clarifies Feelings Towards Charlamange, Having No Regrets Calling Oprah Out & Why Roseanne Is NOT Racist

Mo’Nique Clarifies Feelings Towards Charlamange Tha God, Why She Doesn’t Regret Calling Out Oprah, Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry, & Why She Doesn’t Believe Roseanne Is Racist

Mo’Nique made headlines in 2018 on several occasions. The comedian stood up for herself against  streaming platform Netflix for possessing racial and gender bias, called out radio personality Charlamagne tha God for giving her “Donkey of the Day,” and for attempting to hold hands with fellow comedian Roseanne Barr, as Barr was being dragged through the fire, after being outcast for her publicly labeled racist tweet.

While she’s received backlash for all three circumstances, she’s providing clarity within a new interview about the latest tribulations she’s faced within the last two years. She reveals details about her experience with working with BET, why she thinks Charlamagne puts poison on airwaves, and why she doesn’t regret what she said about Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, and Lee Daniels. See the excepts below.

If she regrets what she said about Winfrey, Perry, and Daniels:

Never. Lemme tell you something, I said one thing on stage a couple years ago at the Apollo about (“Precious” producer) Oprah Winfrey, (“Precious” director”) Lee Daniels and (“Precious” producer) Tyler Perry, and people say, ‘Do you regret saying that?’ And then I pause and I say, ‘Hell no, I don’t regret it.’ I meant every word I said.

Adding,

That movie cost $10 million to make and it made $63 million. I was paid $50,000. And because black actresses are so underpaid, Lee Daniels thought that was a lot of money. I’m going to quote him, in my dressing room, as we were between scenes: ‘I got you paid on this one.’ And I said, ‘Lee, I say this with all humility, but that’s not money. Baby, I make that in one hour standing up on the stage doing comedy.’ In their minds, I’m a fat black woman and I should be honored that they were even calling on me. But if I’m in Cannes for even one day and I’m making you money but I’m not making me money, I cannot do that.

Why she did it:

The biggest risk is me saying nothing and the woman in the mirror looking back at me saying, ‘You’re such a coward.’ That’s the risk. When that woman looks back at me in the mirror, I want her to say, ‘You damn right. You damn right. Keep going.’

Her feelings towards Charlamange tha God:

Because I know that every morning he turns that button on, he’s poisoning my community. It makes me sick to my stomach. So I wasn’t trying to be funny or offensive — I’m going to call you by your name because we’re having a real conversation right now. We’re not in pretend — and that name is pretend. We’ve got to talk for real right now. And when he calls me Donkey of the Day because I was asking for equality, are you crazy? When you hear a man say that, I had to talk to him — with love also, because I love that brother. But it’s disheartening to know that he sits behind that microphone and millions of people listen to the poison that he puts in our community. So I’m gonna keep on speaking about the inequality in Hollywood. I have to.

The Oscar winning actress alludes to her late night BET talk show being called as a result of her being blackballed:

I will say ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ was the highest rated show in that time slot in the history of BET and it doubled the ratings for the network. Now, I can’t make that make sense. Can you? We got picked up for a third season and then that was called back. Think about the timing of all of this and I’m going to let you put this all together. I can’t assume nothing. But I’m just telling you, think about the timing. How do you let go of a show that’s doubled the numbers for your network — with no explanation?

Why she doesn’t believe Roseanne Barr is racist:

That’s why, when people turned on my sister Roseanne Barr, I couldn’t do it. Because there were black entertainers who would not come on ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ because it was quote-unquote ‘too black.’ But when I called on my sista, she said (imitating Barr): ‘Where is it and what time you need me to come?’ And when she showed up, when the cameras weren’t rolling, she said to me: ‘Listen, you’re the real deal. Don’t let them use you up and take advantage of you, because they will. Don’t you let them do that to you.’ Now, a racist woman ain’t gonna say that to me. I’m gonna say this: We’re comedians. And I know her. And what she thought was funny, as a comedian, that’s what it was.

Adding,

When we talked privately — and we’ve talked privately a lot — she’ll break her jokes down and I’ll know where they’re coming from. She’s like, ‘Listen, you know how I grew up, so how could I start making fun of anybody? I’m not trying to hurt anybody.’ Has she ever said, ‘Kill black people’?

Concluding,

There are some people who are downright racist and they say, ‘I hate everything that ain’t white.’ I get that. Then you have those — which is a lot of white people — when you really sit down and talk to them, you see their heart is good they’ve just been conditioned to be that way. These conversations will heal us. And when people started calling me ‘sellout’ and ‘you a mammy’ — I’ll take those words, but when people sit down and talk to me about Roseanne, it gives me an opportunity to say who she is.

Aside from dancing her pounds off, Mo’Nique also makes travels as she does comedy shows in various states.