When it comes to Oprah’s purported presence—or lack thereof—for Black women, Mo’Nique isn’t letting her hands off.
Mo’Nique believes Oprah is to fault for the alleged harassment on The Color Purple set, which has been brought up by celebrities like Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks.
The comedian, 56, said to The Root, “Everything was like, ‘Didn’t I stand up for you guys?'” I said, “Stop it.” You didn’t stand up for our sisters, the Black ladies.
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“What [she] did was, ‘We can treat them like we always treat them, who gon’ check me, boo?'” Mo’Nique went on. My name is Oprah Winfrey. You are aware that when you arrived, everything was supposed to be done.
Taraji P. Henson was the most outspoken during The Color Purple’s press tour when it came to pay parity and the studio’s apparent disdain for her demands for basic necessities on set, such as separate dressing rooms for the ensemble and adequate transportation. Later, Danielle Brooks commended Henson and Oprah for standing up for them. “I remember when we first came and we’re doing rehearsals, they put us all in the same space,” the Orange Is The New Black star said. At the time, we lacked personal dressing rooms. We were lacking our own meals. We had it fixed by [Oprah]. Our voice was [Taraji]. It was my very first studio movie. You do occasionally walk in and say, “Okay, I’ll take whatever they give me.” Simply put, I’m glad to be here. However, [Taraji] stood up for us.
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But Mo’Nique doesn’t think that’s the whole story. Oprah was apprehended, she continued. “That’s what took place.” After being blackballed, the comedian fell out with Tyler Perry and the former talk show host; she has since made amends with Lee Daniels.
“So, when Oprah Winfrey sits at the helm […] if they were hand-picked for that movie, those women should have been taken care of from the [beginning],” the Oscar winner said in reference to Oprah’s position as producer of The Color Purple.
Given that she has been talking to Henson about the wage discrepancy for years, Mo’Nique disclosed that she did get in touch with her. She recently broke her silence about receiving unpaid residuals from The Parkers; the lawsuit involving her and her on-screen daughter Countess Vaughan is still pending.
The Almost Christmas actress told The Root that she thought the Hidden Figures star had a “beautiful soul” and that it “pained me to see her going through that,” but she did not disclose that she and Henson had spoken.
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