After the tearful reunion between Fresh Prince of Bel-Air stars Will Smith and Janet Hubert, Mo’Nique is openly demanding an apology from Tyler Perry, who she says blackballed her in Hollywood.
“Hats off to Will Smith for apologizing for what he did to Janet Huberts (everybody’s Aunt Viv) career/life when he was young,” she captioned an Instagram post last Thursday that included a clip from the reunion show, which aired on HBO Max.
“Perhaps Tyler Perry, who has admitted in private that he was wrong will follow suit & be man enough to apologize in public like he promised,” Mo’Nique wrote. “We’ll work on Oprah & Lions Gate a little later.”
“P.S. Tyler you won E! PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD for being the peoples champ for your body of work,” she continued. “Tell the truth about a [woman] named Mo’Nique who did nothing wrong & be a champion for the individuals who supported your career for years….THE BLACK WOMEN. PLEASE SWIPE TO HEAR TYLER PERRY SAY IT WITH HIS OWN WORDS.”
In her post, Mo’Nique included an audio conversation with Perry and her husband, producer Sidney Hicks, in which they encouraged Perry to say the actress-comedian was right for not doing more press to support Precious, the acclaimed 2009 drama for which she ultimately won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Precious was procured by Perry and Oprah Winfrey, along with others.
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Mo’Nique has also taken issue with Winfrey and Lee Daniels, who directed the film.
In the clip, Perry calls Mo’Nique “brilliantly talented” and that she should “have a lot more happening” after her award-winning performance. Yet, he said he would address it when things “cool down.”
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“I thought for sure that if you had campaigned and won it and played by their rules, what would have happened is in the Netflix deal, you would have gotten millions of dollars, then your career in film would have been much different,” Perry said. “I believe that much in your talent.”
He also said he may consider writing a film for her.
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