Mo’Nique says she could have had the same career as Melissa McCarthy if she was white

Actress and comedian Mo’Nique was once at the heights of her fame in the late aughts when she won an Oscar for her performance in 2009’s Precious, and she had a starring role in the TV show, The Parkers for five seasons. However, a very public and very real backlash befell her when she refused to do unpaid press during the Oscar race for Precious leading to Hollywood giving her the reputation of being difficult.

Now, the actress is speaking very candidly about her grievances in the industry, pointing out that she has been the victim of misogynoir, of backstabbing by others in the industry, and that her career would be thriving if she were white.

“If I was a white woman, do you know what my name would be? Melissa McCarthy,” she said on the Club Shay Shay podcast with host Shannon Sharpe. “If I was a white woman, my name would be Melissa McCarthy. Same track record! Five-year sitcom in syndication. The opportunities are not the same.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, she took aim at the Queen of Television Oprah Winfrey, who actually produced Precious. Speaking about her 2010 interview on Oprah’s now-defunct talk show, where members of Mo’Nique’s estranged family were invited, the actress now claims that Oprah did her dirty with that tactic. 

"You betrayed me, sister," she said, seemingly directly addressing Oprah. "Family is sacred, and we don't cross the line with family."

She also added, “See, when I speak about Oprah Winfrey — and let me be clear I love that sister — I speak about that woman because she’s spoken about me. And when you begin to speak about me privately, I’m going to speak about you publicly. You’ve been unfair, you’ve been unjust and you watched a Black woman be thrown under the bus and you said nothing.”

She went on to say that she was originally offered the lead in Lee Daniels’ film The Butler but the role went to Oprah because she had power and money.

She also clapped back at fellow comedian Tiffany Haddish, who made some disparaging comments about Mo’Nique back in 2018 during an interview with GQ. At the time, Haddish directly addressed Mo’Nique’s boycott of Netflix, telling the outlet, “My business run different than her business. I don't live her life. I don't have that husband of hers."

Mo'Nique definitely remembers that slight about her husband Sidney Hicks, who is also her manager, from six years ago, saying now, "When I saw that, it's like, Tiffany, if you had a husband like mine, you may not have two DUIs. If you had a husband like mine, you may not be caught up in what looks like you could have been grooming a child."

Shots have definitely been fired.

She also revealed that Kevin Hart also turned his back on her after they apparently had an agreement for him to executive-produce a revival of her talk show, “The Mo’Nique Show,” until his manager Dave Becky stepped in and allegedly said, “Kevin doesn’t want anything to do with Mo’Nique.”

The interview is also full of details about her alleged blacklisting in Hollywood, where she reveals she secretly recorded a phone call with director Tyler Perry, and that she still hasn’t received her residual cheques for “The Parkers” to this date. You can watch the entire interview on YouTube here.