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As seen in footage shared to social media Friday, the Oscar-winning actress was on stage during her “Mo’Nique and Friends: April Fools Day with The Queen of Comedy” event at St. George Theatre on Staten Island.
The clip shows Daniels joining Mo’Nique in front of the crowd saying, “I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did,” Daniels said to the comedian, leading her to put her hand to her heart and appear to get emotional. “Y’all, and she was my best friend — my best friend. Y’all think that Precious was just … That was God working, through both of us.”
He continued, “And we’re gonna f—ing do it again!” as the two then briefly danced onstage.
What went wrong?
In 2015, Mo’Nique told The Hollywood Reporter that she hadn’t experienced the kind of pay increase she would have expected after winning the best-supporting actress Oscar in 2010 for her role as Mary Lee Johnston in Daniels’ film Precious.
Mo’Nique also said that she “received a lot of criticism” for her behavior amid that year’s awards season. “I got a phone call from Lee Daniels maybe six or seven months ago,” Mo’Nique said back then. “And he said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’ve been blackballed.’ And I said, ‘I’ve been blackballed? Why have I been blackballed?’ And he said, ‘Because you didn’t play the game.’ And I said, ‘Well, what game is that?’ And he gave me no response.”
Mo’Nique kept the receipts as Daniels kept stalling.
“I was offered the role in The Butler that Oprah Winfrey played. I was also approached by Empire to be on Empire. And I was also offered the role as Richard Pryor‘s grandmother in [Daniels’ upcoming Pryor biopic]. Each of those things that he offered me was taken off the table. They all just went away.”
Daniels told THR in a statement at the time, “Her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community.”
Mo’Nique once told Good Morning America, “Mr. Daniels had a problem that I didn’t say his name the night of the Oscar awards.” The dialogue continued into 2018, when Daniels told TMZ, “It breaks my heart that she feels that we blackballed her. No one blackballed her. Mo’Nique blackballed her.” That same year, Daniels reiterated to “Raq Rants” that he did not blackball Mo’Nique.
Whatever occurred, Mo’Nique doesn’t play about her money and she demands to be paid her full worth. In 2019, she sued Netflix for race and sex discrimination, saying it lowballed her an offer to appear in a comedy special. Though she has had to fight for her reputation and salary over the years, Mo’Nique looks to end this Hollywood drama with a happy ending.
Lee Daniels and Mo’Nique to work together soon.
After Daniels concluded his onstage public apology he told the star, “I love you,” which she repeated back to him. Mo’Nique will star in Daniels’ upcoming Demon House for Netflix, joining the previously cast Andra Day, Glenn Close, and Aunjanue Ellis.