Mo'Nique suing CBS, Paramount over unpaid royalties
After previously suing Netflix for race and sex discrimination, Mo'Nique is now taking CBS to court over The Parkers royalties
Don’t mess with Mo’Nique. The Oscar-winning actor and comedian brought a lawsuit against Netflix for race and sex discrimination, settled with the company, and then launched a new special on the streamer. Now, she has her sights set on CBS and Paramount regarding unpaid royalties for her early aughts UPN sitcom, The Parkers.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Mo’Nique discovered the pay discrepancy when the series’ writers and creators filed a similar lawsuit against CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures and the show’s production company Big Ticket Productions. Her suit alleges some underhanded dealings regarding The Parkers’ profitability that allowed those companies to “retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due” to her and husband Sidney Hicks’ production company Hicks Media. “While the series has proven to be a major financial success for its producers and distributors, the series’ talent have not been permitted to share in the fruits of that success,” the suit reads.
Mo’Nique’s filing points towards the series’ healthy 110-episode run (“placing it above the lucrative 100-episode threshold traditionally necessary for a television show to be syndicated”) as one reason for her to expect “to enjoy significant contingent compensation from the series’ revenues.” The legal complaint goes on, “Plaintiff is further informed and believes and thereupon alleges that the series’ writers and creators performed a forensic audit [and] that this forensic audit of the series’ books and records strongly suggested that defendants have inequitably structured the series’ finances to artificially depress its profitability and retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due and owing to plaintiff.”
“Mo’Nique is not shy about taking on these David vs. Goliath battles in Hollywood to challenge these questionable practices that are endemic to the industry,” attorney David deRubertis, who also represented the comic in the Netflix case, says in a statement (via The Associated Press). For her part, Mo’Nique says, “I just want the contractual compensation that I’ve earned.”