Mo’Nique calls out Oprah, Tyler Perry, and Kevin Hart on Club Shay Shay

Following in the grand tradition of Katt Williams, Oscar-winning standup comic Mo’Nique brought her truth to Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast. Mo’Nique is no stranger to unfiltered accusations against some of Hollywood’s most influential people. Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels, and more find their way into her sights over a bottle of cognac with Sharpe, and as it was with Williams, it was pretty glorious.

Mo’Nique has been a divisive figure not just among some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in Hollywood but also studios Netflix, which she sued for discrimination, and Lionsgate. Following her Oscar win, Mo’Nique couldn’t get arrested in town. The typical rumors followed: Mo’Nique is “difficult to work with.” Her husband won’t look Oprah in the eye. She wants pay parity from Netflix for her specials. All the things that would get a celebrity canceled out of existence despite doing nothing to offend her audience, just some very rich people. Mo’Nique wouldn’t go away, continuing her massively successful stand-up career but never getting the Precious follow-up she deserved.

Mo’Nique has been clear about the reasons for her promising movie career stalling out and brings them to Club Shay Shay, which is slowly but surely replacing WTF With Marc Maron as the place where comedians unmask the people who screwed them over. Across her three-hour interview, Mo’Nique names Oprah, Perry, and more responsible for sabotaging her career and flagrantly disrespecting her.

On Oprah:

Ironically, Mo’Nique starts the interview by praising Oprah as an early influence. To her eyes, Oprah was not only a woman who looked like Mo’Nique and who reached an unprecedented amount of success for a Black woman, but also not a person to hide hard truths about influential people. As she says repeatedly in the interview, she will not conceal the misdeeds of anyone and will encourage her friends to make things right.

Mo’Nique has many problems with Oprah, going back to Mo’Nique’s refusal to do international press for Precious. Mo’Nique says she fulfilled her contractual obligations and opted to spend time with her family instead of doing press at Cannes. She still won the Oscar, and the movie was a success, but Mo’Nique claims that Oprah, Tyler Perry, and Lee Daniels spread rumors that she was difficult for years. Moreover, a year after the film was released, Oprah invited members of Mo’Nique’s estranged family onto her talk show, against Mo’Nique’s wishes.

Mo’Nique claims that Oprah called her to say that “just [her] brother” was invited on the show, but when her mother also appeared, it impacted Mo’Nique’s personal life. Elderly women would come up to her in the store and tell her, “Your mama ain’t shit.”

“Now, they wasn’t lying,” Mo’Nique quipped, breaking some of the tension. “But still it’s my mother […] Had Oprah Winfrey said, “‘I’m going to have your mama,’ I would’ve shut that shit down.”

Understandably hurt—Mo’Nique calls the situation a “betrayal”—the comedian also accuses Oprah of snaking roles from her in Lee Daniels’ follow-up pictures, including The Butler.

On Tyler Perry:

As for Tyler Perry, whom Mo’Nique says she once saw clear a room of assistants by clapping his hands, she apparently secretly recorded him admitting to spreading rumors about her being difficult on set. (But don’t worry, she says it was legal in the state she recorded it.) For what it’s worth, she says Lee Daniels is the only one who apologized for the whole mess and even cast her in his upcoming horror film The Deliverance.

Nevertheless, the rumors had a significant impact on her career. As she said, “If I were a white woman, my name would be Melissa McCarthy,” who seemingly stars in a new comedy vehicle every week. Sharpe sat back, speechless. “Same track record, five-season sitcom and syndication. Same track record, but the opportunities are not the same.”

Speaking of which, Mo’Nique says she did 110 episodes of The Parkers, and the show made $800 million between 2004 and 2009. She never saw any money. It must be the same creative accounting that keeps Men In Black in the red.

“We get a call, ‘We got to do an audit and everything.’ That was in 2009 when it made $800 million. Now we’re in 2024, and they’re trying to convince Countess Vaughn that that show made no money.”

On Kevin Hart:

After the fiasco of the Precious press tour, Mo’Nique said her family “was up against the wall” and Kevin Hart came to her rescue. On Hart’s podcast, he told Mo’Nique, “You’re like my mother, you’re like my aunt, you’re like my sister. We speak about the Tyler Perry situation, Oprah Winfrey. He said, I don’t really know Oprah, but I’m going to reach out to Tyler.” Hart called Tyler Perry and returned to Mo’Nique, saying Perry wants to put it all in the past.

“‘Mo, I talked to Tyler. He said he didn’t want to revisit it, but I’ll tell you what: let’s move past that, Mo. Let’s just do great things together. Don’t even worry about it. Whatever you want to do, I will partner with you. I’ll executive produce with you. You just let me know.’”

Mo’Nique says that Hart loaned her a substantial amount when her family was “against the wall,” and she returned it with interest. Hart told her that he was going to partner with her to get her talk show back. Mo’Nique lets her producers, who are excited about such a big star producing the show, know. They reach out to Hart, whose manager, Dave Becky, known for representing Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr, and formerly Louis C.K., says, “Kevin doesn’t want anything to do with Mo’Nique.” After Mo’Nique asked Hart what the deal was, Hart called it “miscommunication.” Mo’Nique says she hasn’t heard from Kevin Hart in two years.

On Tiffany Haddish and more:

Mo’Nique also swiped at other comedians who took shots at her in the press, particularly Tiffany Haddish. “[Haddish] said, ‘I don’t do business like Mo’Nique do business, and I’m glad I don’t have that husband of hers.’”

Mo’Nique, who throughout the interview laps nothing but praise upon her husband, who also serves as her manager, was not having that. “And when I saw that, it’s like Tiffany, if you had a husband like mine, you may not have two DUIs,” Mo’Nique said. “If you had a husband like mine, you may not have been caught up in what looks like you may have been grooming a child.”

But the most explosive revelation was that her trailer exploded on the set of Almost Christmas, and producer Will Packer didn’t even ask if she was okay.

Episodes of Club Shay Shay should come with cognac for the listener. As with the Katt Williams episode, there is so much here that anyone even remotely interested in comedy should hear. From the treatment of The Original Queens Of Comedy to D.L. Hugely, Mo’Nique has not been treated well by the industry and will not let them forget it.