Mo’Nique Defends Roseanne Barr, Calls Her A ‘Sister In Comedy’ And Says She ‘Made A Mistake’
Mo’Nique is defending Roseanne Barr, calling her a “sister in comedy” who “made a mistake,” Fox News is reporting.
The 50-year-old actress and comedian (real name: Monique Angela Hicks), appeared on Los Angeles TV station KTLA-TV for an extended interview, and in it, she spoke of how Barr helped her early in her career and how Barr deserves a second chance.
You may recall that, back in 2009-2011, Mo’Nique had a talk show, The Mo’Nique Show, which unfortunately wasn’t a hit with viewers. Part of that reason may be, as Mo’Nique believes, that her show was “too black.” She claims that even black superstars couldn’t get booked on her show because their white management wouldn’t make the phone calls.
Roseanne Barr, she says, was having none of that.
“But there was a white woman named Roseanne Barr that showed up for me when people that looked like me [didn’t].”
Not only did Roseanne show up to Mo’Nique’s show and give her best effort at being an entertaining guest, but when the cameras weren’t rolling Roseanne gave the host some personal advice. Specifically, she says, Roseanne encouraged Mo’Nique to do as she (Roseanne) had done and not give in to haters.
“That woman was giving me some beautiful words and she told me, ‘Mo’Nique, I’m going to tell you right now baby, they’re going to consider you difficult. They’re going to call you the B-word because you’re a woman who won’t lay down and take that foolishness.'”
Comedian and Oscar Winner Monique said @therealroseanne is her sister and we should not label her racist and throw her away. This is the best interview ever. Monique is currently blacklisted in Hollywood for keeping it real. Please RT I want everyone to see this clip! So real pic.twitter.com/3XLNFjpNBO
— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) July 27, 2018
As for Barr’s infamous tweet that cost her just about everything, Mo’Nique points out that when you’re a celebrity, everything you say and do is analyzed and scrutinized. You may recall that Barr tweeted that former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett, who is African American and was born in Iran, looked like the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” Mo’Nique calls what Barr said “a mistake,” and claims that one poorly-thought-out tweet does not make her a racist.
“Roseanne Barr is my sister in comedy and she is my universal sister and what I won’t do…is throw her away for making a mistake. We’ve all said and done things, baby, that we wish we could talk back and swallow and say [‘oops’] but when you’re in the public eye, you can’t, and it’s out there but to put the title of racist on her [is not true].”
As for Roseanne herself: She recently told Fox News‘ Sean Hannity that she’s spent the past few months apologizing and asking for forgiveness.
