Mo’Nique Made Her Bed Hard, But She Should Be Able to Buy New One
According to my mother, my maternal grandfather would always tell my aunt Alfreda Lewis that if she made her bed hard, she would have to lay in it.
My grandfather meant that if my aunt made colossal mistakes, she would be the one to have to deal with the consequences.
Academy Award winning actress Mo’Nique (“Precious”) has definitely made her bed extremely hard by not playing the political game in Hollywood and cursing out media mogul Oprah Winfrey in addition to filmmakers Lee Daniels and Tyler Perry.
However, successful moguls like Perry, Winfrey and Daniels should not let power go to their head to the point that they cannot forgive, forget and give blackballed Black actors the second chance they would not receive from many in White Hollywood.
Not only do Black moguls have the power to give less powerful Black talent a second chance, they have the absolute duty to do so because their predecessors did the same for shunned Black talent.
In a comedy routine, Mo’Nique blasted Winfrey, Daniels and Perry for blackballing her and discouraging others in Hollywood from working with her.
Daniels has criticized Mo’Nique for not playing the political game in Hollywood and being difficult to work with after the comedienne worked with Daniels, Winfrey and Perry on “Precious.”
In her comedy bit, Mo’Nique told the three Hollywood powerbrokers that they can “suck her d***” if she had one.
The Academy Award winner and former talk show host also said she prefers the term “whiteballed” as opposed to blackballed. She explained she was “whiteballed” by some “n*****” with “no balls.”
In Mo’Nique’s defense, her vulgar comments were made as a part of a comedy bit and should be taken in jest.
However, she says that while it was a part of a joke, her comments about Daniels, Perry and Winfrey were true.
Now, Mo’Nique is definitely wrong for not playing the game and for not keeping her mouth shout.
Nevertheless, successful Black people know how difficult it is to climb the ladder of true success and they should not be the ones making it more difficult for other Blacks to climb the same ladder.
If Mo’Nique’s comments about her three nemeses making it hard for her to work in Hollywood are true, then all three of them are crabs in the bucket and should be called out by everyone in the Black community for their behavior.
However, if Mo’Nique’s comments are untrue, Winfrey, Daniels and Perry deserve a sincere apology.
Black Hollywood has a history of giving second chances to blackballed Black talent because many know how difficult it is for Black talent to thrive with very little power in Hollywood.
Filmmaker Spike Lee gave opportunities to Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Comedian Eddie Murphy gave opportunities to actress and singer Eartha Kitt.
Winfrey gave life coach Iyanla Vanzant a second chance for her talk show.
And Perry himself gave opportunities to Academy Award winner Lou Gossett, Jr.
Black Hollywood has a history of forgiveness, and Daniels, Perry and Winfrey should never think they are too big to do what God commands all of us to do.
My mother always said if someone disrespects her she would not associate with that person and I live by the same mantra.
However, my mother also says that while she may not do anything to help a person who messed over her, she will also not do anything to hurt that person and I am the same way.
No matter how bad someone wronged you, a person has to be a horrible individual to try to block someone else’s blessings.
If Mo’Nique’s nemeses will not give her an opportunity, people like Spike Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil should give her a second chance.
But what goes around also comes around and it might be only a matter of time before the powerful in Hollywood make their own bed so hard that they cannot lay in it themselves.
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