Mo’Nique Is Calling for a Netflix Boycott Over Equal Pay—Was Her Offer Fair?

Mo’Nique has gotten herself into a very public war of words with Netflix. Back in January, the comedian called for a boycott of the streaming giant, calling them out for both color and gender bias when she was offered $500,000 to film a comedy special. On Thursday, she appeared on The View to discuss her proposed boycott.

“When Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle received their offers, they were $20 million and they were very public about the offers. When Amy Schumer initially received her offer, it was $11 million. She went back to Netflix and said, ‘I shouldn’t get what the legends are getting, but because I’m a woman, I should get more.’ And Netflix agreed and they then gave her $2 million more,” Mo’Nique said on The View.

When she inquired as to why she was offered $19.5 million less than Rock and Chappelle, she says that she was told, “We go by what we anticipate you’ll do.” While Netflix will not comment on contract negotiations, they have said in the past that they use internal data to inform offers, looking at how artists have historically performed on the service. Mo’Nique, for reference, has had two previous Netflix specials.

The actress was particularly enraged by the explanation because she alleges she was told that she’s on par with the other comedy legends who received whopping salaries for their specials. “The vice president of Netflix says to my husband and our attorney, ‘By the way, Mo’Nique is a legend too.’ Well, if I’m a legend, why wouldn’t I get what the legends are getting,” she said.

Mo’Nique also alleges that she was told Netflix doesn’t make their offers based on résumés, but the company then pointed to Amy Schumer’s sold-out Madison Square Garden shows and hit movie Trainwreck as reason for her $13 million payday.

“As a black woman in Hollywood, initially you’re told, build up your résumé and that’s what will get the money. Then you build up your résumé, and then they’ll say, well you know what, we see the résumé but we’ll get them the next time. And you never meet your next time,” she said on The View.

Along with her Netflix boycott, Mo’Nique aired another grievance during the talk show. The actress brought up her time working on the 2009 film, Precious, for which she was paid $50,000, she says. She said that after completing her contractual obligations, she was asked to work for free by promoting the film overseas and refused. Mo’Nique alleges that she was punished by Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey for the incident, and it hurt her Hollywood career.

“So for eight years my family has suffered and my career has suffered because I would not allow those entities to bully me,” she said.

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg was quick to chime in, telling Mo’Nique that she was obligated to promote the film for no additional paycheck. “I’m going to stop you because contractually, when you make a movie, regardless of who you sign the deal with, your job is to go and promote said movie,” she told Mo’Nique. “And we’ve had this conversation, and I said if you had called me, I could’ve schooled you on what was expected.”

Watch their discussion in the video above.