Mo’Nique Wants A Public Sit Down With ‘Empire’ Creator Lee Daniels
Actress Mo’Nique, who won an Oscar for the Lee Daniels film Precious, wants a sit down with the director. The two have been rallying a he-said/she-said media circus for weeks after Mo’Nique accused Daniels of telling her that she’s been blackballed by the industry.
According to Michigan Chronicle, Mo’Nique is challenging Daniels to a sit down to set things straight. When asked what it would take to pick up the phone to give Daniels a call, Mo’Nique admits that she no longer has his phone number, but is open to having a public sit down with him.
“We would have to do it publicly because the one’s we’ve had privately –when you then speak about them — you don’t tell what the real conversation was. When a person is saying, I want to do it publicly, does it sound like a person who has something to hide? I don’t bind to the A-list, I don’t bind to the elite. I’m just a regular folk from Baltimore Maryland, who’s living out her dreams.”
The conversation about Mo’Nique exchanging words with Daniels didn’t stop in her penned feature for the Hollywood Reporter. As the weeks went by Mo’Nique went on to insist that Daniels offered her Oprah’s role in The Butler, and Taraji P. Henson’s role in Empire, but those roles just disappeared without a single word.
Executive producer Danny Strong of Empire denied these claims through Twitter.
As for Lee Daniels he sat down with CNN’s Don Lemon to comment on the use of the word blackballed. “I didn’t say that exactly.” While the two misunderstood each other, Daniels did confirm that he thinks Mo’Nique missed out on a big opportunity.
“During the [Oscar] campaign, she was making unreasonable demands, and I remember thinking ‘this is when reverse racism happens.'”
Mo’Nique went on to say that she thinks Daniels was personally hurt that she didn’t thank him during her Oscar speech. That said, Daniels didn’t seem hurt, but did think she misstepped during her Oscar speech.
“You have to thank the producers of the film, you have to thank the studio, and she didn’t understand that. People aren’t going to respond well.”
It’s sad to see a project like Precious, that was made with such love, be dragged through the mud by selfishness and lies.
— Gabourey Sidibe (@GabbySidibe) March 2, 2015
As for others related to Precious, star Gabourey Sidibe’s tweet defending Lee didn’t seem to ruffle Mo’Nique’s feathers.
@GabbySidibe Hey my sweet sister. Your right that movie was made in love, and we were a part of changing folks heart and mind. Proud of it.
— Mo’Nique Worldwide (@moworldwide) March 2, 2015
During her sit down with Michigan Chronicle she said of her tweet, “I’m not going to assume anything that sister was thinking. That’s why I simply responded back to her the way that I did.”
Do you think Mo’Nique and Lee Daniels will have a sit down?
[Image via Lionsgate]
