Mo’Nique Lands Netflix Comedy Special Years After Discrimination Lawsuit
Last month, comedian Mo’Nique settled a lawsuit with Netflix and now she has landed a comedy special on the streaming platform.
Netflix announced the news on their official Twitter account with a video from Mo’Nique. Can y'all believe this sh**?" Mo'Nique says in the video. "Can y'all believe this sh**! I done came on home to Netflix!"
While she didn’t name the special, it’s scheduled to be filmed in Atlanta some time this year. She also teased her upcoming film The Deliverance, which reunites her with Precious director Lee Daniels. The horror film also includes Andra Day, Glenn Close, Aunjanue Ellis, Caleb McLaughlin, Tasha Smith and Omar Epps.
"You won't want to miss either of them, so y'all stay tuned,” Mo’Nique said. See the teaser below:
In 2017, Netflix courted the Oscar-winner for a comedy special during a time when it was aggressively ramping up its stand-up content. Negotiations didn’t get far because Mo’Nique did not agree to what she considered to be a low offer of $500,000 for a one-hour show that Netflix would have complete control over, including owning the copyright and retaining all audio-only rights to the special.
She would go on to protest the offer as discriminatory and sued Netflix for refusing to budge beyond its initial opening offer. Furthermore, she doubled down on her accusations, saying that the behemoth streamer also underpays Black women, pointing to eight-figure deals for Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Amy Schumer. However, last month, according to Deadline, both sides moved to dismiss the suit and the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
