50 Cent Stood Up For Mo’Nique and Said She Was Unfairly Canceled: ‘We Need You to Win Again’
Rapper 50 Cent has been an actor for years, only immersing himself in work behind the camera with his hit Starz series Power and its spinoffs Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Canan, and Power Book IV: Force. As he’s learned the ins and outs of the film and TV industry, he’s using his platform to speak out for someone who was largely shut out from the industry machine for years: Academy Award-winning actor and comedian Mo’Nique.
Mo’Nique was blackballed after ‘Precious’
In 2010, Mo’Nique won an Oscar for her gripping role in the Lee Daniels film Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. She wore white gardenias in her hair during her acceptance speech to pay homage to Hattie McDaniel, the first Black woman to win an Academy Award, and thanked McDaniel for “enduring all that she had to so that [Mo’Nique] would not have to.”
But in the years after her Oscar win, Mo’Nique was largely absent from the big and small screen. She learned a few years later that she was blackballed in the industry and was passed over for jobs because she was perceived to be “too difficult.” These rumors started swirling after Mo’Nique chose to forego appearing at film festivals around the globe in the months leading up to the Academy Awards to campaign for Precious — and her own win.
Mo’Nique described her shock at learning she was blackballed in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I got a phone call from Lee Daniels maybe six or seven months ago. And he said to me, ‘Mo’Nique, you’ve been blackballed.’ And I said, ‘I’ve been blackballed? Why have I been blackballed?’ And he said, ‘Because you didn’t play the game.’ And I said, ‘Well, what game is that?’ And he gave me no response,” she recalled.
50 Cent defended Mo’Nique
In 2018 Mo’Nique helped lead a boycott against Netflix for racial and gender bias when it comes to paying Black entertainers such as her and Wanda Sykes equally compared to other comedians. She has largely kept to performing comedy in recent years and has for the most part taken a step back from acting.
One person who wants to see Mo’Nique back on screen is 50 Cent. “I went to see [Mo’Nique’s] stand-up show [during] Super Bowl weekend,” he said in a March 2022 Instagram post. “Oh s***! Was so good, she had my a** in a trance. You gotta go check her out; the s*** was [fire].”
The Power executive producer went on to caption another post with his desires for Mo’Nique’s career over a decade after her blackballing began. “I gotta get [Mo’Nique] back in pocket,” he said. “We only [supposed] to cancel s*** that ain’t good for the culture. We need you to WIN again now MO’NIQUE.”
In another post, he teased that he could even collaborate with her on a project. “All in favor of [Mo’Nique] being back on top, say ‘Make it happen, 50!'”
Mo’Nique spoke about her experience with Ts Madison
In March 2022, Mo’Nique spoke about the blackball, the Netflix boycott, and much more with TV personality Ts Madison on Turnt Out with Ts Madison. The actor emphasized that she wanted to stand up for herself so that others who came after her wouldn’t have to.
“I had to stand up and speak up, unapologetically and fearlessly. I had to take that position and that stand for the little girl coming behind me; she won’t have to go through the same fight,” she said honestly. “And I say it humbly when you have the résumé that I have and, once again, I say it humbly. Once you’ve put in the work, but you get treated like you [should] just be thankful we’re welcoming you to the party.”
