Oscar-Winning Actress Mo’Nique Says She Was Blackballed After "Precious"

She didn't play "the game."

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Image via Complex Original
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As we ready ourselves for the 87th Academy Awards this weekend we're finding out more disconcerting details surrounding the award show. Yesterday we learned more about the white males who dominate the voting process, and today we discovered Mo'Nique has been blackballed by Hollywood ever since she won Best Supporting Actress for Precious in 2009. 

In an essay for THR seen by E! News the actress discussed finding out months ago she was blackballed. She had been offered roles in Lee Daniels' The Butler and upcoming Richard Pryor biopic only to lose them further along in the process.


"I got a phone call from Lee Daniels," Mo'Nique wrote. "And he said to me, 'Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed.' I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Because you didn't play the game.'"

The game he's referring to is the Oscar race. Mo'Nique famously declined to campaign for Best Supporting Actress when she was nominated. Since then she's only had four minor movie roles, one of them made for TV. She also attributed this to her being "tactless" and "difficult." 

Daniels issued the following statement to THR:


Mo'Nique is a creative force to be reckoned with. Her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community. I consider her a friend. I have and will always think of her for parts that we can collaborate on, however the consensus among the creative teams and powers thus far were to go another way with these roles.

A nicer way of saying Mo'Nique is finished. 

[via The Guardian]

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