Mo’Nique delivered a viral interview on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast that garnered nearly five million views in 24 hours due to the Oscar-winning comedian’s blunt comments while talking about previous public spats with the likes of Tyler Perry, Netflix, Oprah Winfrey and more. In one of the podcast’s most quoted moments, Mo’Nique declared that her career might’ve been as successful as that of fellow comic Melissa McCarthy had she been given equal opportunities as her white contemporaries.
“If I was a white woman, do you know what my name would be? Melissa McCarthy,” Mo’Nique told 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.”
McCarthy starred on the CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly” for six seasons and won an Emmy for outstanding actress in a comedy series. Mo’Nique headlined UPN’s “The Parkers” for five seasons. She ended up collecting many awards for her film role in “Precious,” which won her the Academy Award for best supporting actress alongside honors from the BAFTA Film Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes. Mo’Nique is also a Grammy Award nominee and an Emmy nominee for her performance in the HBO movie “Bessie.”
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Mo’Nique suggested that her awards success and hit television show did not lead to a similar career like McCarthy’s, who was Oscar-nominated for “Bridesmaids” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and has headlined and produced many comedy films. Mo’Nique has long accused Hollywood of blackballing her after she refused to play the awards season campaign game during “Precious.”
Elsewhere during the “Club Shay Podcast,” Mo’Nique called out Kevin Hart for allegedly falling back on his word to produce new content with her. Amid her public feud with Tyler Perry years ago, Mo’Nique said Hart reached out to her and told her, “Let’s move past it, Mo. Let’s do great things together. Don’t even worry about it. Whatever you want to do I will partner with you. I will executive produce with you … I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
Mo’Nique said she never asked Hart “to do anything,” but then she was told that Hart’s manager said Hart “doesn’t want anything to do with Mo’Nique.” She got in touch with Hart, who said it was all a “miscommunication.”
“That was two years ago,” Mo’Nique observed. “I never talked back to Kevin Hart again.”
Watch Mo’Nique’s full appearance on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast in the video below.
