Mo'Nique calls out Oprah for discussing her traumatic childhood with her brother, who sexually harassed her as a child, in an interview taking place a few days after she won an Oscar.
- Feb 9, 2024
AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey landed in hot water following Mo'Nique's bombshell interview with Shannon Sharpe on his "Club Shay Shay" podcast. In addition to coming at Tyler Perry, D.L. Hughley, Tiffany Haddish and more, Mo blasted the TV mogul for what she called a betrayal.
"See, when I speak about Oprah Winfrey - and let me be clear I love that sister - I speak about that woman because she's spoken about me," Mo'Nique shared in the Wednesday, February 7 episode of the YouTube podcast. "And when you begin to speak about me privately, I'm going to speak about you publicly."
The Oscar-winning actress added, "You've been unfair, you've been unjust and you watched a black woman be thrown under the bus and you said nothing."
During the interview, Mo'Nique called out Oprah for discussing her traumatic childhood with her brother Gerald Imes, who sexually harassed her as a child, in an interview taking place a few days after she won an Oscar for her role in "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire". The "Charm School" alum recalled, "When Oprah Winfrey called me up, and she said … 'Your brother wants to come on the show, and he wants to apologize to you for molesting you, and he wants to tell people how to look out for predators.' "
Mo told her that she "didn't want anything to do" with her brother or the interview. When "The Oprah Winfrey Show" host offered to scrap the interview altogether, the comedian stopped her from doing so in case her brother wanted to share a positive lesson. "I said, 'Sis, don't scratch [the interview] because he could be a different person, and I don't want to get in the way if that cat is a different person, I just don't want no parts of it,' " Mo'Nique recalled.
Mo, however, didn't expect that Oprah would invite her entire estranged family to the show. "We never talked about my mother being there," Mo'Nique told host Shannon. "Imagine … [you see your family on a show] and they're talking about someone who violated you, and that woman didn't tell you that they were going to be there, how would you feel?"
"I understand it. But you betrayed me, sister," Mo continued. "Had Oprah Winfrey said, 'I'm [going to] have your mama [on the show],' I would have said, 'Shut that s**t down.' "
After the interview resurfaced online, fans quickly shared their take on the matter with many blasting Oprah. "The fact that a white woman ([Barbara Walters]) gave Monique more grace than Oprah is telling," an Instagram user said. "And Oprah being a sexual abuse survivor giving him that platform was nasty work smh," another added.
One other pointed out, "Why give a platform to someone that wouldn't even have relevance without their Celebrity VICTIM? Oprah basically gaslit her to the world. #LowDownDIRTYshame #SpecialPlace." Someone else wrote, "this is what you call, taking someone's trauma and exploiting it for your own personal gain. That's nothing but the devil's work," while another commenter said, "Why would Oprah do that??? That's awful."
