Club Shay ShayMo'Nique joins Shannon Sharpe at Club Shay Shay for a candid and uproarious conversation. First, Mo'Nique delves into the heated moment when Skip Bayless told Shannon to "put his glasses back on," setting the tone with her bluntness and brutal honesty for a rollercoaster of an episode. Then, Mo'Nique shares poignant memories of her upbringing in Baltimore, drawing inspiration from the Jackson 5 and seeing a young Oprah’s local daytime TV show. The revelations keep coming as she discusses Katt Williams' Club Shay Shay appearance, shedding light on the nature of truths that the public finds surprising. Mo'Nique then explains why the public's response to her actions differed significantly from the reception Taraji P. Henson received when they both voiced their concerns about Hollywood’s financial disparities. Mo'Nique fearlessly confronts the industry challenges she's faced, including the complex dynamics with heavyweights like Oprah, Tyler Perry, and Kevin Hart. Amidst stories of her undeniable talent, Mo'Nique reveals hilarious anecdotes like being the "best Popeyes drive-through worker of all time" and how her comedy career was sparked by a dare from her brother.
#Volume
Someone said, Shannon Shan, don't mess with black women.
My grandmother told me something when I was a little boy. She said, boy never chased a lot.
Come on, I got black kids. That's what I said. I said, that baby's black. Black. All my life, grinding.
All my life, sacrifice, hustle.
Pact the price.
Want a slice, got the pro dice to swap all my life, Poppy grinding all my life, all my life, grinding all my life, sacrifights, hustle, patic price one slice, got the broll dice to swap.
All my life.
Poppy grinding all my life.
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Hello, Welcome to another episode of Club Shashe. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proproud of Club Shasha and the young lady that stopped for conversation on a drink today. Is one of the best love comedians. She's one of the most decorated actors. She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe. She's a British Academy Film Theater an Arts Award. She's a Scripts Howard Guild winner, NAACP Image Award winner. She's been nominated for a Primetime Emmy and a Grammy. She's a talented host, executive producer, writer, and an author. A versatal entertainer, a famed Hollywood star, a powerful name in the industry, a veteran stand up comedian, a mother, a wife, a legend, the one, the only Monique.
Wow. Wow, No one does that better? Baby, do it again? Call on.
Welcome to another episode of I Am Your Hole.
Now put that damn cause down and read all that again. Oh brother, thank you, thank you.
We stopped by.
I want to toast you for your amazing, amazing career not only in front of the camera, but behind the camera and your stand up career.
Monique than for stopping by today.
Thank you for having me, brother, shay Shah, thank you.
But the drinks of what after that?
Okay? Who? Yes? Indeed, let me just say this before we start. Yeah this right here. Yeah, I'm gonna talk right to the sisters. One sip and get you right there and now I'm back to your shade. I'm back to your baby. That's enough for me, baby, But oh, sisters, if you're trying to make up with your man if you're trying to get pregnant. This right here is Shannon hump one sip, take care all your woes? Who that thing right there? Okay?
Money.
When you hear everything that I read on the card, what goes through your mind?
When you hear that?
What goes through my mind? When I hear you read that, I'm humbled by that. I'm grateful for that I've been allowed to share a gift, because that's what it is. But when you start reading that, there's a part that says, who was he talking about? And there's another part that says, I'm grateful that I was able to put that work in to achieve those things. But all with humility.
You said, we were talking off camera. You said, I want to get something. There's something I want to share with you, and I need to get it off my chairs early.
Because that's why I'm looking at you now. Why going into that? Because I talked to We could not talk till I doubt with you. Okay, listen, okay, So let me say this to you. The day I watched Skip Baylist lose himself with you, and that's what he did. He lost himself. And when I watched Skip Baylist say to you, put them goddamn glasses back on.
Boy.
Now I know he didn't say goddamn it, boy, but that's what everybody heard. And I was waiting for you to snatch his ass across that table, baby, and give it to him. I was like, Sharnon, this is the perfect time. I don't condone violence. I don't say be violent, but that day I was in my feelings for two days. Me and my grand baby could not watch you for two days, and my husband had to say, Mama, let's talk about this. Look at Shannon Shaw. He retired in two thousand and four, but he could still get on that feeling and run touchdowns, tackles everything. Had he snatched skip bails across that table, he would have died in Shannon's arms that day, right, So brother Shay, Shay handled that right Now, we can talk, Okay. I just had to get that off of me, because I know everybody around the world heard when I heard no. He didn't say them words, but we heard it in his mind, and we was looking for you to say spacing opportunities, sept spacing opportunity.
That's that be more coming out of you.
You know what, that's your aunt Mary coming out of me. Yes, your Aunt Mary coming out of me.
Baby, I got an aunt named Mary Nell Monique. You and her are a spitting image. I remember the very first time I saw you and my sister and I we were talking and my sister looked at me and I looked at her. I say, she's a spitting image of my aunt Mary.
And you are. You are. Hopefully we're gonna put a pitch when we run this.
So you're from Baltimore, yes, And I read everything that I read when you were growing up in Baltimore.
What did a young Monique want to be?
Just what I'm doing right now. Baby, you dream of this just when I tell you, Shannon, from a little girl, I always wanted to be famous because I saw the Jackson five and I saw people screaming for them and hollering, and I'm like, damn it, I want them to scream and holler for me. But I couldn't sing. But I knew somewhere I was gonna be famous. So I prayed to the universe, just let me be famous. I didn't understand what all came with that. As a little girl. You just see the lights the glamour, the glitz, and you fall in love with that. So that little girl fell in love with the lights, the glamour, and the glitz. That little girl fell in love with a woman named Oprah Winfrey on a local talk show in Baltimore called people are Talking. And when I looked at that woman Shanning, I saw me. I saw a big woman with a big head, big shoulders, and big feet, and I said, if fat woman can do that, so can I. So that's what that little girl was thinking about from Baltimore.
Are you the type of person that if you see someone do something one times, that means that can be done again. Because you saw Oprah do it, you say, well, O, we're doing it, why can't Monique do it?
I think Oprah, when I saw her do it as a little girl, was a push. However, had I not seen Oprah, my dreams would have still been my dream.
Okay, But when you.
See somebody that's inside of that space, because how many big black women are on TV even now, so back then you didn't see any big black woman on TV that was doing it. So I think had I not seen her, I would have still wanted to do it. But seeing her. Let me say, Okay, it's possible, it's right there.
What was Monique like as a little girl?
What you're seeing right now? But nothing for you? I just got listen. Let me tell you something. A lot of people in this industry don't like me. Right. They didn't like me as a little girl, Shannon. I'm so used to this shit. People didn't like me because I was gonna tell it. I'm going to tell I'm going to tell on you. So what you're saying right now is the same thing you get in. They tried to fight my ass in the twelfth grade, Shannon. They surrounded me, a group of them. Okay, wanted to fight on me. Why because I told the truth? What you tell I told. I told Andre that that was not Lawan's baby, because that's what let me tell Wait a minute of sugar. You're gonna calm yourself.
Okay, do you see Shannon losing itself?
But you Shannon, let me tell you something. Okay. I'm a person for right, right, And if you tell me something and you say, Monique, I've done something to somebody, but don't say nothing, Shannon, I'm gonna need you to fix that because if you don't fix it. I'm gonna have to tell that because it's wrong. So when she tells me this, this is not his baby, but I'm gonna tell him it's his baby, I can't let you do that. That's not right. So what I stand for is right. And I think where we run into a problem in our community, in our group, we get so caught in Well, that's not your place. But you see wrong happening, right, So when you see wrong happening, what you do? Do you just stand back and say that ain't my business? Or do you look and say, well, I knew that wasn't his baby. Now in the baby twenty one years old, he's trying to find his father. What you're gonna do, I'm asking you what you're gonna do?
Well, honestly, Monique, if somebody say, well shall I'm gonna tell you something, and I'm gonna tell you this in confidentiality, and I don't want to go.
Any further than me, you and this table. Yes, it stayed with me and him in the table.
Well, let me say this because I'm gonna go back and forth with your hands. Okay, I would say, before you tell me, did you hurt somebody?
Okay?
Yes, before you tell me, is this something that would make me question your character? Before you tell me, you gotta be clear about what you get ready to tell me. Because if you're getting ready to tell me something and I know that you've done something wrong, I know that you're wrong, and I not say anything. That's why people are allowed to keep harming people for years to come. See Harvey Weinstein. Yes, well, there's a lot of people that knew what was.
Happening, but if it wasn't their place.
It was with in them right until it becomes you. So I think the moment we get into a space and I was in the eleventh grade at the time, okay, but when we get into a space where we say listen, if I know you're doing wrong and I take a position that's not my place, eventually you will succumb to what you support.
What was your relationship with the young lady that told you this in confidentiality.
You're not going to focus it on. I was in eleventh grade. Now I'm fifty six. But when she told me, I told her I'm going to tell see I'm that I'm going to tell him what you said, so we clear, I'm going to tell him what you said, because that's not right.
Oh my goodness.
Mo see. I think that's the problem that we're dealing with right now, Shannon. When we know something is wrong everything Kat Williams said here and said, we all know it to be the truth. However, we get so caught up in well, I ain't gonna say nothing. Well can you believe he said it?
Or can you or is the messenger?
It's the messenger, baby. We get so caught up in the messenger that will overlook the message. People have a hard time hearing a five foot five giant tell the truth. People have a hard time with a black woman over two hundred pounds tell the truth. Because people that look like us, we should just be grateful we got invited to the party. We should just be grateful that someone paid us attention. I've dealt with that in my whole life. I've dealt with that. So when you get to a space where you say, listen, I want to be free. I want to be free. I don't want to walk around intimidated, skined, fearful, what might happen, What they're gonna have, what they're gonna say, what they're gonna do. If it's your story, and it's the truth. Tell it because what you can do is be in a position to prevent it happening to someone else, over and over and over again. So if I go back to the eleventh grade with that sister who's no longer with us, rest her with that sister, I would do that again, because if you tell me something and we know it's wrong, but you're gonna pen that on somebody else, is that right?
No? Not right?
And what would your aunt Mary Dodds?
You're not answering my question, what would your aunt Mary do?
Well, she's gonna tell it because you're gonna tell anything anyway.
But that's why you're not I'm married, because I'm married. Kept it in check even though you didn't want to tell her. She was gonna tell that. Baby. You know that's not your daddy. We're not gonna play like that. You love our.
Married I do.
The uniqueness of your name m o hyphen Most of the time, Monique is a singular, it's not m o hyphen. What was that like? Because people say, are you trying to be different? You're trying to be boogie you no good? Well, you spell your name monique like everybody else.
I do. That's my stage name. When I'm not on stage, my name is m O n I q u E. When I'm on stage is m O the little hyphen and iQue. That's just entertaining.
Did you not? Do you ever think about changing it to the hyphen?
No? On stage is one person. Off stage is somebody different, and sometimes we get the two mixed up. On stage, I am an entertainer. Off stage, I'm a wife, I'm a mommy, I'm a friend, I'm a sister. I'm these different people. But I keep that stage on the stage.
How much of stage is actually Monique?
That's good shape say that's good. All of the stage is Monique. But there are certain things Monique's gonna say on stage that she wouldn't say off the stage. There are certain things on that stage.
You know.
There have been people that say, oh, she cussed so much. Oh I'm a performer. I'm an entertainer and I'm on stage, But no one will ever find an interview of me doing what I do on stage in an interview like I'm having with you, it's two different things.
What type of student was Monique? I read that you were in I don't know if this is the correct way. But you were in the class that.
The slower one.
Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah you you had a.
Say it baby, now I want you to spell it out.
Hey, you got two laps.
Okay, okay, okay, but I did not wear a helmet. Okay, now, since you want to go there, I did not have to wear that helmet, baby.
So yes, as I sit here with you today, you didn't all of a sudden become this advanced.
Why were you in that class?
I'm not gonna play with you, Shannon. Okay, some of them damn words Cat was using. I was like, what I said, he's sucking it to them. You know, I never connected with school because I always felt like it wasn't adding up. So when you're trying to teach me about the Boston tea party, but people that look like me as at the bottom of the boat, I can't connect to what you're saying. I never connected to because I always felt like something was off. When they were teaching me about history, we were always the savages, and we were always the bad people, and then you saw these white people be all the heroes, and as a little girl, I said, something's not adding up. So I don't look at that as a bad thing. I just didn't connect with it. It made no sense to me.
So you never had a problem with learning.
But to disconnect was what they was teaching and what you actually saw. You like, what you teaching me is not what I actually see.
You know, what's Shannon. It's a combination. Okay, it was a combination. Okay. I wasn't grasping it and I didn't believe it. So it's a combination. And when you have a child that is full of energy and it's sitting in a classroom that is closed in all day long and you're trying to tell me all that I'm not, it just did not add up to me. It just did not make sense to me. So there's no shame to it. When people say, was you in the soul class? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know we call.
It so when you.
Hey, but don't overlook what you don't think is the package supposed to be. See again, we come back to the messenger. Nobody thought that I would be, And I'll go to my family like nobody not the fat one. She's not gonna be the one. Not her. So I've been used to people doubting and counting me out. And for me as that little girl, it's like one day, one day, one day, and that one day is right here.
Even your family, So how how was your family? How was your brothers and sisters? Because I mean, look we Joe, I mean I got bro I got a brother and sister, and you know, we joked with each other. And I can imagine if the situation where if one of us was in those class, Oh we're gonna were gonna get them jokes off more, dick.
I'm just it is what it is.
No one paid enough attention, really, like, no one paid enough attention because though we lived in a household together, we were very individual so no one even paid attention to what was really going on. And to include my parents. And that's not a victim story, that's not all what was me. It's just what it was. So it wasn't like, oh, you dummy, the jokes were always fat. They were all ways fat jokes. Okay, so I'm so used to that. But maybe the only one that sneaks snacks. I'm the only one that'll sneak them damn snacks, said, and I'm the only one.
Yes, So how would so what so what would you say your relationship then and now was with your family.
Well, my relationship now with my family. They're my biological family, and I wish them. Well, here's the thing I watched you do, and I think it was like a little clip, and they were talking about interracial dating, yes, and you said, why would somebody stay where they're miserable?
Right?
That applies everywhere, Shannon, it just doesn't apply to that, especially in our community. We've been taught take care of your family, make sure well. There are some families that deserve it, and there are some families that you have to say, listen, I'm so glad we had this time together, and that's it. That's where I am with mine. I wish all of them the best, but that's what it is. So even as I sit here with you now, with all that's going on in Hollywood and all of the stuff I had to go through, I've already been through it with people that you call your family, and I have to say, you know what, that has to just wash off when I know what I'm standing in and what I'm standing on.
You're absolutely right, Monique. My grandmother used to always tell us, she say, son teeth and tongue may fall out, but family never should and she stood on that no matter what transpired in the family, no matter how bad someone had treated you, you should never fall out. But hearing you say that's different because just because we're blood, that doesn't mean we're fat. We're family through blood, but sometimes it's somebody on the outside that's not blood that's actually closer familys than the actual biological We've.
Been taught to you say, trauma is okay. We've been taught to say, you mistreated me, you abuse me, you violated me, your distress, expected me, you belittled me. But I'm supposed to look at you at Thanksgiving and say how you doing, uncle. That's what we've been taught you swallow that pain. That's why people have such a problem with Kat Williams. People have a problem with people that says I'm going to tell the truth. I'm going to tell the truth, and that causes a ruckus. And you would say why are people upset with the truth When you hear Steve Harvey say they are repercussions when you tell the truth, Well, remember when we were children, what would your grandmother tell you?
Tell the truth?
Tell the truth, because if not, there will be what repercussions? Well, now it's got turned around. When you tell the truth, they'll be repercussion. So what's the opposite of that? Should I tell a lie and get a reward? So that's how we're rolling right now. That's how we're dealing with one another right now. So when it comes to family and people said, oh, Monique, how could you listen? I want to live the rest of this journey that I have in peace. I want to be with my family, in love with my man, he in love with me. We watch our babies grow and develop their own families. I don't need anything in the midst of that. Because you family that I should accept that trauma. I should accept you not taking accountability for what you've done, what you've said, And we just washed a slate. That's why we are in the position we are now as a community, as a black community, as a community. In entertainment, everybody's been so afraid to say, look what they did to me, look what they said. And it's like, oh, well, listen now, we don't want to ruffle no feathers. Feathers, especially if the messenger doesn't fit what people should think. The messenger is supposed to look like and we keep repeating history, Shannon is.
That the situation will need We're people look and said, well, you made it thus far when it couldn't have been that bad. Because if it has been as bad as you said it is, Monique, how would you have ever gotten out of be more? How would you have ever gotten into Hollywood? How would you ever have a talk show? How would you ever be on a sitcom?
So? How is it that bad? Monique? And you end up like this?
You know, when you first got in the NFL, yes, man, your eyes were like this, yes, and it was Oh, I made it, I'm here. And then after you start getting in it, and you started seeing things and you started feeling things, and you start now your eyes start fitting a little closer because now you're understanding what the business is. Right, So when you first walked through the door, you're walking through the door saying, come on, baby, Oh, this is all I've ever prayed for. And when my baby cat Williams sat here and said, no one's ever gone out to LA and got a sitcom like that. I was in LA for three months and here comes a show called The Parkers and there we go from there. It took off from there. So I think that when people say if it was so bad, you mature, You begin to understand what you're dealing with. You begin to understand what you're in the midst of. And once you understand it, it's when you can speak on it. But before you really know what you're looking at, how do you speak on that? Because when you first walk in the door of Hollywood, you have everybody telling you, oh my goodness, you're going to be amazing, Oh my goodness, this is going to be incredible. Well that's all you know.
That is all you know. Yes, but you're so happy to be here. Yes, and you're like, okay.
When when I listen to your story, you say dirt, poor, yes, badroom outside, Yes it was. We had to make it work. However we can make it work correct. And then you get that first bit check yes, and you think the people that gave it to you was awesome because they gave it to you and it's more money than you've ever seen before, until you find out this ain't the right money, this ain't the right amount. Wait a minute, if they got this, why am I getting this? Then you start putting the pieces together and you start saying it's not right, and I'm going to speak about it. See when I saw Taraji broken on those platforms, it was painful to watch. However, Taraji and I had a conversation over a decade ago and my trailer when I was doing the morning show, and she said, you know, you gotta keep on getting it until your turn come. And I said, Taraji, most of us die before our turn comes. We got to ask for it right now. Now, I understand that because there was a time I felt the same way, because that's what I was told. You just keep going and we'll get them the next time. We'll get them the next time. We'll get the next time, and the next time never comes. And then you see our sister broken sitting on those platforms now. When I said it, when I said.
It, why didn't they get the traction when you said it that when she said it. Now, all of a sudden, everybody is coming and I don't have a problem. I'm glad, yes, But if you said this a decade ago, and I remember you saying it over a decade ago, why didn't they get the traction? Why didn't they get the support? Why wasn't it propped up when Monique said it.
I think there's a few reasons why. Number one, it was the messenger. I should just be grateful I got invited to the party. You a big fat black woman, how dare you be the one? And then on top of that, you're saying names. Your saying Oprah's name out loud, You're saying Tyler's name out loud, You're saying Lee's name out loud. Your saying lions Gate out loud. That's not what we do. We say they, we say the people, we say THEO, we say the producers. How dare you actually say our heroes names? You specific these are our heroes. How could you say their names out loud? Because they're the ones that did it? And if I don't say it out loud, Now you see a woman that is swallowing that pain, that is so stressed out. Then you see our sister, Taraji Bhinson sit on that platform, and I love that baby because she's a beautiful spirit. But to see her that broken. What our community was saying was, we have a hard time, some of us, we have a hard time seeing a strong black woman with a backstreet and a chin up and a strong black man standing by her side. We have a hard time accepting that, but we can accept seeing a black woman broken. Now it's really serious because she's falling apart. Our community had a hard time with those two things. And when I would hear people say why is her husband there? Why is he there? It's a sad day when we're questioning why a black man was staying with his black woman. So when you hear black women saying we're the most undervalued, disrespected, underserved, mistreated, violated, exploited, we get all of that. Then you see a black man standing with his black woman saying not on my watch, and you hear some black men saying while her husband got to be there. We're in a sad state of affairs when we begin to question black love and black unity. So they didn't want to hear me, some of them, because of what I look like, because I spoke about their heroes, and because they saw that man standing right there strong.
Did they question lidity the.
Because we had never seen this before, not so not so public, not so present.
Yes, did they question you and his relationship.
Be and my husband? Yes, when you say questions what is like? Because they did. But I want to understand what.
Because okay, did they think that was your husband or what? Was he your manager? Because he's been everything, he's your lover, he's your manager, he's your whatever. He's all encompassing. Yes, he's a toolbox with all the tools that Monique needs, all of them. And so when I heard people saying that why is he there? Why does he have to be in every interview? Why does he have to be in the background. Why can't Monique do that?
Why not?
Why not? Why not? And that's when you see and these are my sisters. But when you see Taraji, when you see Viola, when you see our sisters speaking out, you never see their representation sitting right there with them. You never see them saying, listen, we gotta fight together. My husband is also my manager, which is my representation. But again, we've been so beat down that some of us have a problem with this black man saying I'm standing right here strong and I will not flinch and I will not budge. What a sad state of affairs we are now in where you have people that look like you and I that would question why this man is standing there that, for the life of me, it's disheartening when we heard brother Malcolm say, we've been running unk, we've been hoodwinked. We're now doing it to ourselves. We're now doing it to ourselves. So when you say Monique, it was different because we had never seen that before you said their names. Let me say this, I'm not the first one, right, I'm not the first one. But we get washed away in history so easily that we start thinking, oh, this is the first one. This is the first one. Her name is Claudete Covin, and she's not the first one, but she was before Rosa Parks. But because Claude at Covin did not fit the picture that they thought she should look like. She was dark skinned and she had coarse hair, and because the organization, I believe it was the NAACP did not think she would be accepted by the white people. They had to get somebody that they said the white people could accept. We keep repeating the same thing because what I said is no different than what anyone else is saying, not at all. Right, it was the messenger, and it was the way that I'm not putting my head down, I'm not shedding one tear. I'm not gonna say I don't want to say they name because I might get in trouble. I'm gonna say all of it right because when you really think about that little girl coming behind you, what I don't ever want that baby to see is me broken. I don't want her to see me falling apart. And I understand it. I understand how it can happen, Shannon, when you may not have a foundation at home, when you may not have that man at home or that woman at home homever that support person saying you're not crazy. I got you. Come on, we're gonna go do this. We're gonna get through this. So for us, if we start taking things for what they are and get out of our emotions, we would be so far alone.
Do you believe punishment?
Punishment is not only meant for the perpetrator, but it's also to deter others from said.
Acts you said.
Do you believe the punishment that was bestowed upon Monique was not only to punish you but to deter others from saying what you say?
Well, Shannon, see it, and I'm gonna answer that. But sometimes we act like we don't know our history. See, back in the day when they had us chains, they would beat one real good, but in front of the others and they let everybody know. What you don't want is that type of ass whoopet So what they said was, we're gonna beat Monique really good, We're gonna sit her down, and I made it public. Financially, my family took a hit, Shannon, And when I tell you we took a hit, we took a hit. So when you see our sister go through that, you see her go through, and we act like our eyes didn't see what it saw when we watched that promotion happen with the color purple, we wanted to act like we didn't see how Oprah Winfrey treated to Raji. And my humble opinion, when you saw her walk up, you saw that there was tension. You saw that there was something happening. And then when you see Taraji write her a love letter, it's like, listen, we gotta stand tall and stand strong on what we know. We know you were mistreated, we know it wasn't right, we know it was unfair. And then you turn around and say, oh, but lady Oh handled it. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that because that allows Lady Jo to keep on doing what she's doing, and we're in a position of I don't want to say nothing because we saw how Monique got whooped. Now again, that's just my humble opinion, but I don't know what else to I don't know how else to frame that. It's like, listen, you better fix that because you saw what they did to her, you saw how they treated her.
Is it a situation?
Do you believe it's a situation that Oprah might have faced something similar that maybe wasn't as public as you and she's looking at it. Well, if I faced that, went through it and came out on the other side and look at me, it should be okay, because sometimes we get that with parents. You know, I struggle, You say, my kids should have to struggle sometimes. Also, do you think that might be something going on with her or you're just like, there's a disconnect.
There's a disconnect. Okay, there's a disconnect, and there's been a disconnect for years. There's a disconnect. And I think what happens is we place people on these pedestals and we say, oh no, you can't do no wrong. We don't even want to hear it. And when you hear Kat say, you know what, they do, they don't say anything, and they act like it didn't happen. I'm gonna keep talking until you take accountability, until you say, uncle, I've done this. That's why it was so important, from Oprah Winfrey to Tyler Perry Lee Daniels. Now, Lee Daniels was the only one I had to deal with. Did you see Lee Daniels apologize? He walked out on the stage. Not only did he apologize on stage, that man apologized to our children. That man apologized to our children and said I need to apologize for what I put y'all through. He's the only one I had to deal with. However, it became a problem with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry that I wouldn't do something and work for free. Now, when you say, well, maybe Oprah Field's like she came through it. Why can't you Well, there's a story with Oprah Winfrey. When she was on the show. People are talking Richard Chaer was making fifty five thousand dollars. She was making twenty two thousand dollars. These are her words. It was her co host. She said, I had to leave because they wasn't paying me fairly. Now, you say black women who did nothing wrong, and you're in the midst of this situation because she called me. Tyler Perry called me Lionsgate call. When you were on the phone with my husband, you said, I agree with Monique. I agree with the position she's taking. But when it came time to say it out loud, Oprah Winfrey went totally silent. Now, to Tal's credit, Tyler Perry called us up right, and he said, I can see the pain in you, and I can hear it, and I want to let you know that I would never do nothing to hurt you. But the conversation kept going on, only for Tyler Perry to admit he did start a rumor that I was difficult to work with. He lied, only for Tyler Perry to admit I was wrong. And when my movie Boo come out, I'm gonna say that right now. Here's where when you did that interview with Kat, I could respect how you do it, because Kat said you let them people lie in your face, and your response to was Kat, I don't know if they're lying or not, because I can only take them at their word the word right.
Yes.
Well, we sent you the audio of Tyler Perry. I don't want you to take me at my word. I want you to hear his words. And what did you hear that man saying? What did you hear that man saying?
He said?
What did he say?
Is that money? You know you're not supposed to be recording people?
No, no, no, no, let me back up. Everything we did was legal. And here's where a black woman really gets the kick in the ass. Had I not recorded Tyler Perry, then it would have been my word against his, and then on top of that, it would have been he's so powerful we can't even pay no attention to that. Well, now I have him on audio, which is legal to do where we live. Okay, we have him on audio, and do you know what? Some people then said, why would you record him? Just like you said there and said, you know what's unlegal to But did you hear what the man said? I violated you. I mistreated you. Do you know, Shannon, that's cost my family tens of millions of dollars. Yeah, over a lie and a rumor.
Is he gonna is he gonna make a car? He's gonna compensate you for that.
I want you to look in your camera, yes, and I want you to talk to Tyler Perry because you heard what that man said, So ask him, will he compensate my family for that?
Tyler?
Will you come on club Shay Shay, and let's have a conversation about the fair compensation for what transpired between you and Monique. You can sit right here, and she's sitting right here, and you and I can have a conversation.
And well, do you want better? And give me five on that? Baby? Where do you want better? Shade my husband and I'll sit right next to him. See, with this whole situation, and some of the people that Kat talked about, ironically, I have issues with those same people. There were people that reached out to Tyler Perry on my behalf, okay, and I was grateful for that. Okay. There was Al Sharpton, the Reverend Al Sharpton, civil rights leader. Yeah, I sent him that audio. He listened to it. He said, baby, what that man did to you is wrong, and you're like my daughter, and we're gonna have to get him to fix that.
Right.
We didn't hear from Al Sharpton for six months. The next time we saw l. Sharpton, he was on a podium talking about we don't need to fly commercial because we can fly Tyler Perry's private jet. I said, that's why maybe I'm not hearing back from him. Okay. Then we had our beautiful sister, Stephanie Mills. Yes, okay, who is she don't play?
Yes?
Right? I told her what happened since her the audio. Now don't know if she listened to that audio or not. But however, she called Tyler Perry. She said, Monique, Tyler Perry does not want to revisit this. Okay, fine, While we're on the phone, Tyler Perry calls her back and says, I will meet with Monique, but not with her husband. And you ready for this? And now Monique has to apologize publicly, say Oprah and I had nothing to do with messing.
Up her career, but that'd be a lie.
Looking at goddamn camera.
I thought I thought that was a stage.
The way you look at the camera. Yes, because you heard it, yes right, yes, So when you have when you hear what this man is saying, So I said, Stephanie, tell Tyler Perry. Never will I meet with him without my husband. And I owe no apology, so I'm not going to give one that goes away. Kevin Hart now you know when Kat Williams said Gatekeepers, Yes, Kevin Hart, I do his podcast, yes, and I want you all to re listen to the podcast so you can hear it for yourself. When he first comes on, he says, you're like my mother, You're like my aunt, you're like my sister. Okay, Then we do the podcast. We speak about the Tyler Perry situation Oprah Winfrey. He said, I don't really know Oprah, but I'm gonna reach out to Tyler. I appreciate that. Kevin kept his word. He reached out to Tyler Perry. Kevin Hart called me back about maybe a week or so later. He said, MO, I talked to Tyler. He said he don't want to revisit it. He said, but I tell you what, let's move past that mod. Let's just move past that and let's just do great things. So whatever I want you to hear me, Kevin Hart, let's move past that mod. Let's do some great things together. Don't even worry about it. Whatever y'all want to do, I will partner with you. I'll executive produce with you. You just let me know what you want to do. Now, let me say that before we go any further because I want to make sure I give Kevin Hart his proper credit. When my family was up against the wall, Kevin Hart wrote us a check and said, here you go. We're forever grateful for that. When we were able to give it back, we said, brother, we appreciate you with some interest on top, because I don't never want nobody to think me and my husband, So I want to make sure I put that out there that brother really helped us out when we needed to be helped out. Then when he came back with I got you and ask Kevin Heart to do anything, he said, our executive produce, I'll partner with you. I said, good shit, Kevin, because we're in a deal with in Demoll and we're trying to get our talk show back. MO. Whatever it is, I got you. Now, Kevin Hart is one of the biggest entertainers right now in the world right and was Then we got off the phone with Kevin Hart. We called in de mall immediately and said, Kevin Hast said whatever we want to do, he got us. He's gonna partner executive use. They was like, oh, this is incredible because when you put Kevin Hart name on it, you already know what it is.
Correct.
Two weeks go by, we get a call from in deomol In DeMar says, we just got a call from Kevin Hart's manager, Dave Becky, and Dave Becky said, Kevin doesn't want anything to do with Monique. So whatever she told y'all, he doesn't want to do anything with her. Nothing. You know, he doesn't want any any kind of relationship with Monique.
So what changed between the two weeks and when?
And plus he gave your check, you gave the money back, then said he would partner with you executive produce whatever you need more?
Hey, we got you.
So what transpired or what do you think transpire between then that two week period?
Well, soon as we got off the phone and they told us what Kevin manager, David Becky said, I called Kevin Hart immediately. I said, hey, baby, we just got off the phone with end Demarro And they said, Dave Becky called them up and said, you don't want anything to do with me. He said, Mo, that's a miscommunication. I can tell you right now. I said, wait a minute, are you okay, toh with this white man calling them up getting in between our relationship? Something you said he said, MO, that's a miscommunication and we're gonna talk tuesday. Don't worry about it. I'm telling you right now, it's a miscommunication that was two years ago. If you talked to him, I talked to him. I've never talked back to Kevin Hart again. So that's what we're faced with when you allow somebody to come in between a relationship with a woman that you said, I'm like your mother. You said them, like these things. I didn't ask you for that. So everything that that baby was saying sitting here, everything he was saying was on the up and up. Because when you hear people say get the anger out your heart. Oh man, no one's saying he's lying. No one ever said I was lying. It's so easy to discount and devalue because of what we look like. However, when it comes to Tyler Perry, I will not allow you to discount or devalue because that is your voice on that audio. Remember on Good Times when Penny's mother was whooping up on you and she had recorded it. That's you one tape. So how does it go from you saying you're going to give me an apology to now I owe you an apology.
But what are you an apology for?
What could I possibly owe you an apology for when you've admitted See when Lee Daniel says to me, because Cookie from the show Empire, I was offered that role. Now to Roger, pull it up, baby it listen here. However, I was offered that then Feleid to call me back and say, baby girl, they said you're too difficult to work with. But you here on an audio that a man told David Talbert, I was difficult to work with. Do you see how that cost my family?
Yes?
And with no accountability because oh it's the great Tyler Perry. No, you've got to be accountable for that. Oprah Winford, You've got to be accountable for the things you've done with my family. You've got to be accountable for that.
Is there any relationship between you and Tyler and you and Oprah currently?
No?
No, But I thought there was an apology. I read that.
I thought I read somewhere that Oprah had issued you an apology and Tyler had issued an apology.
That's not correct.
No, No, the only person that's given you an apology, saw it.
Is Lee Daniels. That's the only person. So we are in a place where we're too afraid to call him for what it is. We're too afraid to say, if it looked like a duck in a quack, like a duck, what is it, Shannon, It's a duck. So again you see the struggle of the black woman. As I'm sitting here talking to you and you say, Mogul, why would you record him? But you heard the man violate me. The first thing wasn't I can't believe that cat did that to you? It's why would you do it? And we understand it because we've been conditioned that.
Way, because when you you had to get somehow, because when you're telling people these are lies, nobody.
Is believing Monique.
So now even though you have him record his voice and that's him and he's saying he made it up, now it's no longer, Oh man, I can't believe he lied on mo more.
Why do you record it? So now they're putting the owner's back on you.
Where's the win? How do we win? How does a black woman win? When you say here, he is right here, and I look to the community and say, how long do we allow us to keep being exploited? Used up? Taking advantage of and because we think somebody can give us an opportunity, we just say, I'm not gonna say nothing. If we keep operating like that, Shannon, You're gonna have a whole lot of us sitting right here in this same seat, almost telling the same story.
Why do you think Tyler is afraid to meet with you and your husband? Why does it need to be you one on one when he meet with other representatives and their client.
What is it about you that he feels it needs to be just you?
And he does he think your husband is some kind of negative influence on you. He thinks the husband is saying things that Monique probably wouldn't say if I just had had an opportunity to talk to her one on one.
What do you think that is?
Let me say, people better be glad my husband is by my side because they have people in Hollywood that know wherever you act up is where I show up. People know in Hollywood. Baby shaying it, and I don't say it with a badge of honor, It's just what it is. Well, I've had to say, who you think you talking to? And we're sitting there with the president of the studio or the my patience level. It's not gonna allow. I've been molested, I've been violated, So the moment I see you trying to do it, we're gonna have to address it. My husband is nothing but a gentleman. And you know why people have a problem with my husband because he right to it. There's no we're gonna dance around the bush. He's right to it. And people like Tyler Perry, people like Oprah Winfrey, they look at my husband and say, how dare you be so direct? How dare you not put your eyes down when you're talking to me? How dare you do that? My husband is also my manager. Why would he want to exclude my management. It's like Tyler, you should want my husband to be there. You may want him to be sitting right there so that way we can have a conversation that everyone can be heard. But I appreciate you, Shannon, because most people are too afraid that's heard the tape. They're too afraid to say, no, I heard it, and this is what he said. I appreciate Ts Madison because Ts Madison was the first one to say no, I heard what he said. So when folks were trying to jump on her she knocked down for the black woman. Listen, baby, y'all don't even understand the fights that says to be having when ain't nobody watching for the black woman?
Right?
So I appreciate you looking in that camera.
Right well, I mean, look, sometimes there are some some black people, some not all. Some that my grandfather used to say, MO, is that if you're not careful, you'll become the very thing you despise the most of a person. Now, what do we despise most about Trump supportersident ex President Trump? No matter what he says, no matter what he does, they give him an out. There's some people in our community, no matter what powerful black people say or do in our community, will give them an out. And we can't, and we become the very thing we despise the most. What we despise most about President Trump's ex President Trump support us is that no matter what he does or says, it's okay, yes, we can't do that.
You can't.
We can't if somebody is wrong, Like you said, MO, if somebody is wrong, we have to be man or woman enough to say they're wrong, regardless of what comes along with that.
They don't know, they don't understand what them saying i'm sorry will mean for them. See when I.
Read this, because that's not for you and I'm sorry. It's not for the person that you offended. It's for you because currently you're in hostage your feelings because you have to live with that, you know, give with that what you've done.
So when you see a woman say me turning seventy, I'm so happy because I've never heard anyone stop it. Stop it because there's a black woman that has been calling your name for over a decade that you seem to want to make go away. And I know I'm not the only one.
Would you would you sit if Oprah called mo today? Would you sit down and have a conversation with her?
Let me tell you what I'll do if Oprah call me today, Shannon Sharp, we will sit down and have a conversation with Oprah Winfrey. We will sit down and have a conversation with Tyler Perry. We will sit down and have a conversation with the presidents of lions Gate. We will sit down and have a conversation with anyone that is I'm gonna say brave enough to sit down and have a conversation. But what happens is within seconds. Within seconds, if Tyler Perry was to sit right here, you will say, man, I heard you. What you trying to tell me about the system. Within seconds, Oprah Winfrey would know that. People would say, hold up. See when I speak about Oprah Winfrey, and let me be clear, I love that sister, because she's our sister. She just got to come back across the street. We got the light on. When I speak about Oprah Winfrey, I speak about that woman because she's spoken about me. And when you begin to speak about me privately, I'm gonna speak about you publicly. You've been unfair, you've been unjust, and you watched the black woman be thrown under the bus and you said nothing. And here's what's interesting as well. My husband was saying to me after I won the Oscar Award, right and she had the people come, you know, to talk to the Oscar winners, and I go on the stage and I talk to the Oscar winners. Well, when we go to a commercial, the people in the audience and I say this humbly, as my husband was telling me, he said, Mama, they wasn't screaming Oprah. They were screaming Monique right so much so I had to say, y'all gonna shut that shit up. Now we get ready to go back on the ad. We having fun, right, he said. But I watched Oprah, he said, and I watched her almost turning her seat like they screaming her name. Now some people will say, oh, Monique, are you reaching Well, let me tell you what then happens the movie The Butler. That movie was offered to me. Lee Daniels came out and said, I did offer Monique the Butler, But as he said to me, he said, Moe, at the time, I didn't have no power and I didn't have no money. So when Oprah says she wanted it, so who played the lead role in The Butler? Oprah Winfrey? Lee Daniels was getting ready to do a bio pic on Richard Pryor, and he offered me the grandmother, who then calls Lee Daniels and says, I want to be the grandmother. So as you're looking at me, it's the same way I'm looking at that sister, and I'm saying, why don't we sit down and have a conversation, because the way things could look it may not be that way. But just the way things look, Oprah, Just the way you would have my family on your show. Oprah.
One might say, more, well, I mean, if the roller they're looking for a black.
Big go ahead and say sharing it's Okayful with his words, he wants say fat black woman. If the role looking for a fat black woman. Mother, he was like, you know, this is why we love you, uncle Shay, shape, because we want you to say a fat black woman. Now, men, Oprah, fit the damn description shape, fat black?
Don't we fit in you do? But I'll be right back here to be. I'll be your neighbor up there where you live.
At Listen here, listen here, listen here. So so are you lying now? I'm not gonna have your big ass hit in here in the Hall of Fame, and you're scared to say shit okay? And I want to excuse myself Andy the babies that might be watching this, because I wasn't gonna say no spicy things. But Shape say get me wrong, now, come on, a shack.
One might say, or people might say, well, mo, I mean the role called for a heavyset black woman.
You, Oprah, y'all fit the role?
Yes?
How do we know that.
She wasn't off of the role at long, and people think that she's better, more and more qualified than you.
It don't work like that, Shannon. You can't offer me once you say, I want you, right, that's what it is. Okay, okay, But I don't have the money to fund a production. I don't have the connections to go to the studio and say, listen, I want to do this movie. She does. So when Lee says, hey, baby, she got the money, go get it. But someone would just say, how is that working out like that? How's that happening like that? How is it that things that was offered to Monique you seem to be playing now. I told Oprah about that. See everything we're saying to you right now.
He was having a conversation here.
I don't play there behind the back. I don't play that. I'm gonna share with share. There's one thing I will share with you that I've not shared with anybody. But I don't play there behind the back. And all of that. I say, listen, let me try to get to you first. Now if you avoid me, okay, but I tried to be respectful. I tried to call you first when she had my family on her show. I tried to call you first. I tried to talk to you privately, but then you became the great, the great, mighty Oprah Winfrey, and you were too busy to talk. Well, now I'm gonna talk about it. This woman has overstepped with me so in so many ways that somebody would say if we wasn't Monique and Oprah Winfrey in the entertainment business, and we was Monique and Oprah Winfrey that worked at Coshco. I see you in the breakthron I see edge of cash register because she's overstepped.
Wow.
So I don't know, mo, Nikki, this might be the term crossing of the rubicon. We might be going too far.
I can't.
I don't.
How do you if you feel that way?
Because clearly, if you feel this way, now I get why you feel this way.
I don't know. Like I said, I don't know this, don't.
I'm taking you at your word, not not the title, because I've listened to the audio. Yes, I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about Oprah. Yes, I'm just taking you at your word. Yes, if you feel this way, is it possible she feels the exact same way about you.
How could she? How could she? What have I taken from Oprah? When did I have Oprah's mother and father on my show? When did I have anybody come and speak about Oprah Winfrey on the Monique Show. That's never happened. So how could she feel that way?
Would you have done that.
Had her family? Or yeah, let me tell you how we operate. When we had the Monique Show, that was a comedian on them and he was trying to joke t I s wife tiny My husband walked out in the middle of his set. He said cut. He said, brother, we don't do that here. We uplift our folks. We don't play that. So no, I would not have done that when Oprah Winfrey had my family. And I'll tell y'all, and I'm looking over, I'm looking around, baby, because they have people here, yes, okay, And I don't want to be rude to the people at Sha Shay's club. You got other people in the club. Right. When Oprah Winfrey called me up and she said, I got a call from your brother. And then this is after I'm won the oscar Ward right, and your brother wants to come on the show, and he wants to apologize to you for molesting you, and he wants to tell other people how to look out for a predator. I said, Oprah, I said, I don't want anything to do with that cat. I said, but and then she said, well, if you want me to scratch the show, I will scratch it. I said, Sis, don't scratch it because he could be a different person, and I don't want to get in the way if that cat is a different person. I just don't want no parts of it. Okay. When I hung up that phone, Shannon, I was like, I appreciate that sister, Like she didn't have to call me. She didn't have to call me and said, I'm I have your brother. I stopped seeing commercials with my mother and my father and my other brother who used to be my manager, who knew the fear that I had with the brother that was up on stage right. We never talked about my mother being there.
She never told you that.
You know how you feel about your.
Grandparents, Yes, absolutely.
You know the honor and how you speak about them. Imagine you've done seeing your granddaddy and your grandmama on a show and they're talking about somebody that violated you, and that woman didn't tell you that they were going to be there. How what you feel.
I would feel like you feel like you felt betrayed.
That is exactly how I felt and how I feel. And it's not oh I'm in a no, I understand it, but you portrayed me, sister, And I'm not the only one you.
Got at the time when she called you, she said it was just your brother, just my brother.
And when my mother was on that shoulder, you know what I had to deal with, Shannon, What's that. I would be in the store and I would have elderly women coming up to me and they would say, your mama ain't shit.
Wow.
Now they wasn't lying, Shannon. Hey, they wasn't lying. Baby. Sometimes you got nothing. The truth be god damn truth. Sometime you got to just go with it. But still, it's my mother and I'm in hand because when she went, I'm having to defend something and I got that often with them telling me what my mother wasn't because you did not tell me. Had Oprah Winfrey said I'm gonna have your mama, I'd have said, shut that shit right. I don't need nobody seeing my mama be greedy. I don't need the world, see shut it down. Now, there's a white woman named Barbara Walters. They called her first and she said, Monique, I told your family I can't do that to you. I wouldn't do that to you. You just won that award. Like, why would I do that?
Yeah? This, I mean, you're here.
Why would I bring something that I know that you don't want to talk about?
You lived it. Why do I need to replay it again?
Ask her? You came a right there, baby. Ask her. See this is where you get juicy, right, because you're you're you're saying the right things, but you're asking me questions that I can't answer. I can't answer why Oprah Winfrey did what Oprah Winfrey did. Only Oprah Winfrey can answer for her actions. So again, stop being scared. No, I knew that would get him my line.
I knew that.
I'm back the baby. I knew that again.
But even this show, I have a producer, and I give him a lot of leadway, but I've had people reach out and say, well, a family member saying something, and I want to come on your show and refute it.
That is what we do here, right.
It's like it's almost you don't cross that barrier.
Don't do the family thing.
You don't do the family thing. And I'm gonna bring this up. I wasn't gonna do it, but damn it, this is this seat makes you go truth, tell it, Tell the damn truth. Damn to tell the truth. Because family is sacred, it's supposed to be, and we don't cross the line with family. And people begin to get comfortable to jump on the monique bandwagon of money doing things wrong. And she's doing this and she's doing that. And there's a brother named Dale Hughley yep, and until he take accountability, I won't let it go. What because what was you get ready to say?
I was gonna say, what did d L do?
Let me change? Baby? That voice went not Didn't that d L his friend? He like, that's my friend.
No, I've met DAL on several occasions. I don't know DL like that.
Do I know DL? Say like I know an earthquake? No, do I know?
Since I've interviewed Kat, had several conversations with him, do I know DL on that level?
No?
Right, See, when we say family is sacred, right, family is sacred, and we know that you don't cross the line when it comes to family. Correct, right, I do DL's radio show. Yes, Dal Huglely is not there, his team is there, and Shannon. We having a great time. I mean, baby, we having a great time. We going for it back and forth. When we get to the end of the show, they said, you want to play a game? Well, I want to play? I said, sure, Shugar, Let's play a game. And it's a game called would you rather?
Okay, Now, Monique, you already you should have said I'm too old.
For this game.
Wait, man, we're having fun, baby, right, we're having a good time sharing it. Okay.
We I mean it's the sister that and it's two other guys. We're having a great time. It's a beautiful black uriney cookout. We're having a good time.
Okay.
Would you say your wife was your family? Is that considered family?
Yeah?
So your husband is considered family. Okay, So here we go. They said, Monique, we want to play a game of would you rather? Let's go would you rather your husband sleep with Lee Daniels with a condom or Krinne Stephens without one?
Really?
Monique, now, as y'all a watch and right now, haven't heard this doing y'all going, they're doing the same thing in the studio. They're going, I can hear that is exactly what happened. Now. I said to the team, how does that uplift our community? I said, sister, and her name is Jasmine, How could you ask another sister that? Well, we just planned, I said, tell me the joking that because I don't know what you're insinuating, then you're involving people that have nothing to do with nothing, like what are y'all doing? So I said, I'm gonna call my brother d L. I'm going to call my brother. I call d L. Hughley on the phone. I say, hey, baby, yeah huh. That's how he responds, yeah, did he know what you? Yes? He because they called him to tell hypno Moniq's gonna be calling like this. It was getting crazy. I'm like, just let me get on the phone with my brother, right Hey, d L. Yeah, I said, listen, I just got off the phone with your team and they wanted to play this game? Would you rather? And it was like stupid, like ask me about my husband and Lee Daniels and Karen Stephens and his exact words, Well, that's how we do it, I said, d O, how does that uplift our community. And again, I don't know what y'all trying to insinuate, but brother, what you doing, Like I said, that's just how we do it. So it is what it is now. It got so ugly that my attorney had to send a cease and desist so it never aired. So we have like when Kat Williams talk and people truth tell Us talk, we have receipts to everything we're saying. That's how that whole thing got started. Okay, it's family. My husband is my family. Yeah, now you babies that are really good with this internet. Through the years, I've watched DL speak ill of me through the years. I never knew me. I never knew Dale Higley had a problem with me. But when Cassay all a group, he forgot to put d O hugely in the group. Through the years, I was bitter. I was dangerous with what I was doing, saying that it was inequality. My husband didn't know what he was doing. This went on through the years. I was unloved all of these things, and I said to myself, I'm gonna see you. I'm gonna see you. I didn't go on nobody's show. I didn't say nothing to nobody, but I knew the time would come that I would see him. Were scheduled to do a show in Los Angeles. I was the headliner of that show. His name was on it. Then his name came off. I didn't question it, but I knew I'm gonna see him right eventually. Okay, Now we have a show in Detroit. Contractually I was the headliner.
D O.
Hugley posted a memo. Now, when you signed your deal for the Ravens, did you sign a contract or memorandum?
I signed a contract.
You see how you say that? Like anybody that knows good business, you signed the memo was saying this is what I would like, But the contract is saying this is what it is. Okay. He put out a memo to our community, and that touched me a little different because I was saying, why would you lie to our babies, Because now they're thinking if they send somebody a memo, that's what they're supposed to get. Okay. I was contractually signed to go as the headliner, right do Yo hugely didn't come into the building until nine thirty. Now, contractually I said I have to be on stage by nine thirty because if the show starts at eight, I refuse to keep an audience waiting. That is disrespectful to the board. When I went out on that stage, Shannon, I made sure everything I said he heard me, because now you're here and I'm going to say it to you. And I said some things on that stage that I said he was cowardly, and some folks said, how could you say that? How could you do that? And then I posted some things to say, this is what I meant. See. You came after my husband, and when you had a chance to fix it, when you had a chance to say, mo my bad. You know we don't even get down like that. You told me it is what it is. And until he's brave enough and courageous enough to say this is what really happened, y'all have never known me to be no shit starter. Folks ain't never known me to go and kick a sandwich out on somebody's hand it's hungry. But what people do know is if you kick me, damn if I ain't gonna kick you back, because that's fair play. So there was one left out the pack. And when you have people that continually don't take accountability, that's why you see us in the state of affairs we're in.
I'm a firm believera mole that everybody don't play the same. And someone once told me, what is joke to you is death to someone else?
What is joke. That's why we we don't play with people's families. When we had the moniche show, the radio show, listen, you can't come on here and speak ill of no one because we don't play like that, because we know how this business works. So when you allow that to happen, what do you think is gonna come back your way? What do you think?
And D. L.
Higley? Please, no, brother, we still love you. Just take accountability for it and we move forward.
I remember reading something about the situation in Detroit. I didn't know the depth of the magnitude of it. I remember meeting something about a memo about I guess it's an agendum that was added on.
But the contract is the contract.
The contract is the contract. And what happens is because of the messenger. It was easy to pile on. It was easy to pile on. And then when you have out some of our black folk that go sit in front of a white man and speak ill of their people. I'm like, y'oll, what are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing?
What?
What are we coming to? That We're gonna sit in front of this white man. I can't even say his name. I refuse everybody know who he is. We sit in front of him and we just let this man say any and everything about us, and then we go right in with him. That now, see that to me is dangerous. And y'all, babies, that's good with this little computer, don't take my word. You can just go through the years of this cat just running his mouth and it's like, stop doing that, because what are we saying to the babies coming behind us?
We're gonna continue this, but I want to get into where you're from. The DMV.
Yeah, do you realize, like Chappelle, Martin, Tommy Davis, an earthquake yourself? What's in the soil in the DMV that got you guys? I mean you've done television, stand up. All these guys have done television and stand up and are great at it. When you look at like Chappelle, Chappelle walked away, like walked away from it and said, nah, I want to do my own thing because I'm not gonna let you guys hold me HOSTI yes, but Martin still does television. Tommy Davidson doesn't do as much television. Quake is not in television, but he has, you know, have this all his gigs going on. When you look at the success that a Chappelle, Martin, Earthquake is habit, and you says, hold on, and none of them guys went on Oscar and none of them guys did what I did and on the movie set, and they're having the commercial sense that there's a habit.
That should be more.
If I was a white woman, do you know what my name would be? Wealthy Melissa McCarthy, Oh my goodness. If I was a white woman, my name Melissa McCarthy, same track record, five year sitcom and syndication, same track record. The opportunities are not the same. So when you have it, and as you read all of those things of me, you said, way minute, mo, none of them have this, None of them have that. We get judged by a different stick. We could judged by different stick. And then when I had people judging me, I'm like, you judging me by your yard stick, You've not done what I've done. And I say that humbly. You've not had the accomplishments that I had. When I hear brother Di, y'all will huguly say, well that netflix special. I just accepted anything whatever they gave me. These are not my words, they're his. Well, that's how you do business. I'm not mad at you accepting anything. Why are you mad at me saying I won't accept anything. That's the difference. It's like people were judging me. I was having people chanting, Okay, I didn't know we had so many tender people in our group. I didn't know we had so many tender love. I didn't know we had so many tender people, and I wouldn't want to be on the front line with these tender people where it's like, oh, I can't believe you said that. I can't. But it's what I said, the truth. It's what I said, the truth. No, I didn't put no sugar on it. It was shit right, and I didn't try to make it taste good. We gotta stop running away from what is real and we run into fantasy. And that's how come we keep staying where we sit.
MO.
Before you became Monique that everybody has seen over the last two three decades. What were some of the jobs that you had that you was like, Man, this ain't for me. I knew this is just a holdover. You're just a breeze.
Every job I had, baby, it was special. Wasn't every job I had?
Baby?
Let me tell you something. I worked at the drive through in Popeye's. I worked in the drive through in Pope's. And that was my microphone. Every time somebody came to that window, I was on stage, Welcome to Pope's. My name is Monique. What would you like today? And they would say, Hey Monique, I'm Shanning. Hey Shanning. How you doing baby? What's your order? And you give me your order? And then I say, would you like a high apple pie? With that's sharing it? You say, you know what? Mo, nigga? I sure it was.
Come on around here, baby, listen here Popeye's win my damn money, cause I was a seller.
Baby. If you wanted the two piece, I gave you four. Hmhm you. We wasn't gonna lose no way coming do my damn window.
Sha.
That's why I ain't lost no damn weight. What I saw like, if you got two pieces? I hate too up welcome to by hi baby. Come on now, that was that was your microphone.
That was that was the beginning of Monique because you was owning. Did you know that's what you were doing?
What I knew I was doing was walking in my dream? The microphone said it's possible. When I stood in my bathroom mirror and I wrapped the towel around me and it didn't go all the way, I wasn't devastated. Okay, I don't know if they just didn't have enough money to buy me a whole damn towel, But I would still stand and that was my down right and I would pick up that brush and I would say, I would like to think, so I've always seen it you?
Did you always know that you were? You? Was Oscar always in the back of your mind? Did you always Oscar?
Was never in my mind?
You just wanted to be in TV. You wanted to be in show business. What asthet did you want to do?
I wanted to be famous. I loved what it looked like with people being famous. I didn't know to say I want to be wealthy with the fame. I didn't know to be specific to ask for it. But I wanted to be famous.
Who did you know that looked like Monique? That was famous?
Oprah Winfree? So do you see how far this relationship goes? That's who I knew that looked like me. See, I didn't when people always asked me about the Oscar right, but no one ever asked me about the Image Award. No one ever said to me, what did it feel like when they called your name for the NAACP Image Award And they were people that looked like me? Because we put so much weight on that award that we it's such an honor, and it's an honor for any award, not just that one. But as a little girl, I never watched the Oscars because nobody looked like me. So I was like, this is not for me. Ah. But when I watched the Image Award, baby, those people look like me. The b T Awards, those people look like me. So I was honored the first time they called my name for Immage Award. When I tell you, sharnon that night, baby, when they can call this little fat girl name from Baltimore and the winner goes to the walk goes to Monique, Well listen here, I got so good with him calling my name and this is what had to humble me. You will get humble baby when you just think they get ready to call your name. I had wonted like three years in a row. This the fourth year.
Oh he ain't now.
Name again. Let me situate myself and my chairs. So here come the category. Hey baby, the best accress in the sitcom. They named me Tisha Campbell, and I cannot remember the the sisters, right, I know they get ready to say and the award goes to Monique. So I got to because I'm a big girl. You got to screwed up so you can be ready to push up, right. So I screwed up and get my down together. And the winner is Tea, said Campbell. I said, all right, girl, want to get that whole glass? Is that right back down? But it was never the oscar for me, baby, It was never the oscar for me?
So how did stand up happen?
Stand up happened? On a dare? My brother came home one day and said he went down to the comedy club to do open mic night and he did so bad. He said they was boring me. But I was six beers in, so I thought the booze was applause. So my boy had to say, man, this is stinking right. So we cleaning out the pool and he says, I said, if I was there, I would have said, and that was thirty minutes of what I would have said. Then he said, I dare you to go down next Wednesday and do open mic night. It was a club called Burke's in Baltimore. I went down that next Wednesday, Shennon and I got a standing ovation And from that moment to this moment, were you hooked?
I was?
I was. It is nothing like and I'm sure you can appreciate it. Understand when you walk out on that football field and you walk and you smell it, and you walking into it, and you that little boy and you says I'm here. I'm still there. That little girl in me is still saying I'm here. But I'm a grown woman, right And I'm saying now that I'm here, you got to pay for it fairly. If not, I'm good, I just have to walk away.
How much how different is that Monique?
Not just an age, yes, but how different is that Monique to the windness sitting right here on this couch.
Oh she grew up?
That one was naive. Will you have a naive?
Yes, yes, yes. When you first come to Hollywood, Shannon and I got a show called The Parkers after I was in Hollywood less than ninety days, wow, ninety days. And you have agents and you have managers and you have attorneys, right, and they're telling you all the good things, and anybody. Everybody always said to me, you want to get the syndication. Yes, you want to get the syndication. Once you get the syndication, you work because you want to work, right, right.
So syndication is what five years, one hundred episode?
Syndication is one hundred episode, right, So that's all I knew. I didn't know to aks to be an executive producer of my own image, and nobody told me. I didn't know that for that. I didn't know to asks for after the third year of being on a successful sitcom that you could say, I now need a bonus. I didn't know to even negotiate that, and no one told me to negotiate that.
They're definitely not gonna tell you.
All they kept saying is when you get the syndication, When you get the syndication, When you get the syndication, Well, three years in The Parkers was in syndication. Now, no one told me that you learn it once you open your eyes, Because now I'm going around the country doing promos. The Parkers is coming on at four o'clock in your city. The Parkers will be on at two thirty and Sacramento, y'all make sure y'all watch the Parkers that's coming on. I'm not knowing I'm promoting the show in syndication. No one told me that. All we're doing is saying, if we get to five years. We got to five years, one hundred and ten episodes. Me and a beautiful young lady named Countess Spahn, who was my baby to this day. We had the Laverne and Shirley law right supposed to be equal. Once we got to the five years. Our attorney my attorney, and the age is that, oh, the Parkers made money. Y'all gonna get paid from the Parkers. It's made money. Okay, years go by. By two thousand and four, the Parkers we went off the air in two thousand and four, right in five years. By two thousand and nine, the Parkers had made eight hundred million dollars.
Oh year, yeah, stay with me, money, money, hey, come on, hey, yay, all right, okay, okay, because we're waiting to get that money said, oh coming, we.
Get a call, we got to do an audit, you know, and everything. Okay, And that was in two thousand and nine that had made eight hundred million. We're now in twenty twenty four and they're trying to convince Countess one and nine that that show made no money by nomm you trying to convince us that a show that costs sixty five roughly sixty five million dollars to make and our last year of shooting The Parkers counts Vaughan and I made fifty five thousand dollars apiece.
That's it. How about you? Were you making an episode.
Fifty five thousand dollars an episodes?
Okay? So how many episodes.
Were five years? That last year we shot twenty two episodes? Okay, we made fifty five thousand dollars a piece at the end of a top rated.
Sit holdo, Hold on Time, on Time, Are you saying you made fifty five thousand for twenty two episodes? Are you saying you made fifty five thousand per episode?
Because I want to make sure I've hearing you.
Let me make sure you hear me correctly. We did twenty two episode. Yes, we were pay fifty five thousand dollars per episode. Okay for twenty two shows. Okay, Okay, that's on a hit show that is unheard of. Yeah, because we're two black women, I don't know to fight for it. Countless as young, countless as a baby in this business. So I don't know to say that we.
Should have been making a thousand, one hundred and fifty two hundred thousand of an episode.
So now today, y'all want to convince us that that show made no money. That show has made over two billion dollars, and I'm guesstimating, and you want to convince us that our percentage we make no money. We can't allow that to happen. That's why we're fighting. That's why we're saying no, no, guys, we can't sit on our hands like that. You know how many of us when you watch Good Times, when you watch the Jeffersons, when you watch Sam for and the Son whose family is benefiting from our images? Because the damn show ain't ours. Wow, You see why I fight the way I fight? Yeah, because if it does not make sense. You have to explain it, and I'll go back to Tyler Perry. You know why, Tyler Perry don't want to talk to my husband because he can't talk around him. My husband don't care nothing about that man's money. We don't care nothing about your title. We care about your character, brother, We care about your intention.
What you're gonna pay? What what you what you're gonna pay?
How you gonna make it right? How are you gonna make it right? Because if I am your aunt, Mary, and I really belonged to you as I really belong to you right now, Shannon, I am your sister and you heard something that was wrong.
How how can Tyler Perry make it right?
MO? Give you a job, give you your s give you a sitcom?
Say more, okay, you know what? More?
Sitcom? You're gonna be the executive producer. I'm gonna be a co executive producer. You're gonna do the sitcom.
If somebody cost you, Shannon Sharp, millions of dollars, yes, do you want to be compensated for what they cost you for a lie and a rumor? Yeah? So at that time I was making rougher between two and three million dollars. A year, right, I set in that for over twelve for over a decade, like twelve years. You do the math over a lie that he admitted it, that he told now something I'm making up. You admit it that brother? How do you make that right?
You got I'm sure you got lawyers? Have you had a conversation?
Well, what happens is when you take somebody at their word, time, time time. We don't need to go to no lawyers, taler, you know what you did. Just make it right. And if he doesn't make it right, what will our community do? What will our community say? Because today it's me, tomorrow's you. Then what we've got to hold him accountable? What?
What?
What? What? Cats say? We got to you got to tell Tyler Perry, come on, now you do it? Said you got to tell.
Him, You got to tell it.
This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listen to part one on. Just simply go back to Club Sha profile and I'll see you there.
