As we try to come through this because what I want is for you to really come through, because I know who you really are. What I want you to do is come through this in a different way, and let me say this, and I’ll try to say this with love, but I say it because that’s how I feel: I’ve never met so many cowards among our Black men in show business.

On a recent episode of his talk show, Steve got into a heated debate with comedian and actress Mo’Nique over her claim of being blackballed in Hollywood by people like Oprah and Lee Daniels. The interview actually lasted 52 minutes—Jesus, wow—I edited it to protect her because there was some really crazy stuff.

Shannon Sharpe has been making a lot of waves since his Cat Williams interview, but what people might not know is that he’s also a great friend of Steve Harvey. He even had him on Club Shay last year, and his episode racked up millions of views. But recent developments make it seem as though Harvey might turn his back on Shannon much like he did to Mo’Nique.

By now, most people already know that Mo’Nique still hasn’t let up on Oprah and Tyler Perry for what they did to her. And before we get into how Steve Harvey ties into everything, let’s revisit what happened. It started with the movie *Precious*. It’s an award-winning movie that put Mo’Nique on the map and earned her an Oscar. It was supposed to lay the groundwork for a very successful acting career, but instead, it became her downfall.

Mo’Nique recounted what happened on *Club Shay* and again in an interview on *Indisputable* with Dr. Rashad Richey, where she discussed her phone call with Tyler Perry.

It started with Mo’Nique publicly calling out the power players who refused to pay her for additional activities related to *Precious*, and they proceeded to blackball her. She said they recorded their conversation with Tyler Perry, who is a good friend of both Oprah and Steve Harvey, because they knew no one would believe her otherwise.

“The backstory is, Rashad, I did a joke when I hosted the Apollo on Mother’s Day, and I said that those people—Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels at the time, and Lionsgate—I said that they could do some explicit things. They were the reason why I was blackballed. We get a call from Tyler Perry, and the reason we recorded, Rashad, was because we knew if we didn’t, it would totally be my word against Tyler Perry’s word. And because Tyler Perry is, I’ll say, powerful, who would they believe—this powerful movie director and writer, or this fat Black woman? Who are they going to believe? So that’s why that recording was made.”

Mo’Nique said that what Tyler Perry said about her shut her career down because he’s a billionaire with vast amounts of power in the industry, and him saying he’s not on good terms with her meant nobody wanted to be associated with her.

“Well, when you say that about a Black woman in Hollywood, as we saw what happened to our sister Janet from *Fresh Prince*, when you say that, it puts the nail in the coffin because now nobody wants to touch you, nobody wants to work with you because you’re supposed to be difficult. And my manager-husband is difficult, too. So, what did it do? It shut my career down to a place where I knew we were affected. I knew that there was a major impact on my family financially because of that rumor and lie that was told.”

In the conversation Mo’Nique and her husband recorded, Tyler Perry offered to write them a check for any money coming from *Precious* as compensation. Mo’Nique quickly pointed out that this was the money they were already owed.

“I’m going to call and find out whatever money is coming in for *Precious*, and I’m going to send that to you. I’m going to send it to you, whatever it is, and write you a check.

Seriously, where we are right now and what we’re trying to do—we’ve got some opportunities that a lot of those people didn’t have. So what I don’t want you to feel, not one day, is that you were mistreated or that she was treated unfairly. Now, if that means that’s what I need to do, you do that. You do that, you take that, and take it from a place of love.”

Mo’Nique’s husband responded, saying they aren’t a charity, and they were pressured to do activities without pay by Oprah and Perry.

“Here’s what we’re saying: when you say ‘I don’t know what it’s supposed to be, but I’m going to send you the check’—listen, this is not charity, brother. What’s not going to take place on our watch is this—I wrote a check for something that came in, and it’s one of those things where you’re missing the point. And we believe enough in the universe to understand that, listen, when a person comes to you sincerely with understanding what it is that you’re talking about versus just saying ‘I’m going to find out what it is and I’m going to write a check,’ the way that this is being done is like, don’t throw us no chum change because we had to go through a movie audit with Lee for monies that he didn’t get, and they’re saying that he did something with the money from the movie. Okay, these are the things that we had to deal with.”

Mo’Nique said they didn’t want to be bought off with money; she wanted a public apology for the public smear campaign against her.

“To have a man of his alleged stature—whatever you consider his stature to be—try to buy us off and keep things quiet, essentially, is how it felt. There’s a level of astuteness to business that, me being the Negro husband that people often times underestimate, and for us, we saw that coming, if you will. And just the level of integrity as it relates to money, it’s not the end-all, be-all.

We’re going to be alright—that’s how we looked at it. But what will make us better is your restoration of the imagery that you projected about this Black woman, Mo’Nique.”

“What did you want Tyler to actually do? Because obviously, you didn’t want a contribution.”

“What I said on the phone call was, apologize. You put that out there publicly, that I was difficult to work with. You put that out there publicly, so I need you to publicly apologize. That’s it. That’s all we were asking Tyler Perry for at that time.”

Finally, the public was also able to hear Tyler admit that he said things about her that caused her trouble in the industry. But rather than simply showing remorse, he goes on a spiel where he admits that had Mo’Nique played by the industry’s rules, she would have made millions of dollars and had a very long and successful career.

“And all I would ask you is one question—two questions. The first question is, did you not just say it was wrong, Tyler? Did you not just say it was wrong, Tyler, to say she was difficult for not doing something that she was not contractually obligated to do? Did you not say that you would feel that that was wrong, or am I missing something?”

“I absolutely said that, yes.”

“And, David, see, because I just watched your podcast, and it really—it really broke my heart because, number one, I feel you. I feel—I feel the sadness that’s from you in all of this, and I don’t want you to feel that, especially from me. I can’t speak for anybody else, but for me, I’m not anyone that wants to hurt or offend anybody, especially you.

I think you are brilliantly talented. I think you should have a lot more happening since you won that award. I thought for sure that if you had campaigned and played by their rules, what would have happened is in the next deal, you would have gotten more money—millions of dollars—and your career in film would have been much different. I believe that much in your talent.”

“So, in saying all of that, I just—it’s just heartbreaking because I don’t ever want you to think that I’m not black-black or say anything—please forgive me when I say this—I’m not trying to hurt you.”

Neither Tyler Perry nor Oprah has ever apologized for what they did to her. No one from their camp, no liaison. The only person who has apologized is the person with whom I had a contract, and that is Lee Daniels.

“Yeah, that’s the only person who’s apologized—not Tyler Perry, not Oprah Winfrey, no one from Lionsgate.”

So, let’s see how this is related to Steve Harvey. Everyone knows that the Black community tends to support each other in Hollywood, considering how they have to deal with a lot of discrimination. Some of the most powerful people are Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, Oprah, and Tyler. Steve is known to be very close to Oprah, having had both of them on his show over the years.

“Hey, when did we do that? You got to be kidding me. Yeah, look at this! Look at you! Oh, welcome, Steve Harvey!”

“That’s right, hello you! I’m on the wall, baby! I’m sitting next to Oprah, I’m on the wall! You see it? Take your pictures!”

Oprah and Steve joke around a lot and are known to be very comfortable with each other.

“What is this I hear that you were doing a love scene with Terence Howard?”

“Oprah…”

“Oprah, I just heard him say ‘love scene.'”

“Yeah, I know, they’re going to put the photo up there. Yes, I am doing this movie called *The Butler* with Lee Daniels, who is a great director, and it was supposed to be like a little scene.”

The same goes for Tyler Perry and Steve.

“Thanksgiving’s coming up

, what are you going to do?”

“Oh, man, I’m going to be out of the country. I’m going to take a break, man. I’m going to take my whole family to the Bahamas.”

“Oh, are you taking Steve with you?”

“Oh, that was really nice of you to invite me.”

“Yeah, he’s going to be working here.”

“Yeah, I know, you’re going to be working. Yeah, you can work it out, but I’m going to be in the Bahamas, taking a break.”

“And do you know what’s cool? Oprah might be coming out. I’m just saying…”

“Oh, wow, Oprah’s coming, I should’ve never mentioned it…”

“And she can bring some ‘delicious food.'”

“She’s going to bring the ‘delicious food.'”

“You never stop! That’s why we’re friends.”

Mo’Nique publicly asked Steve to support her, but instead, he publicly humiliated her, saying that she should play the game and not speak out for herself.

“Before the money game, it’s called the integrity game, and we’ve lost the integrity worrying about the money. But, Mo, if I crumble, my children crumble, my grandchildren crumble. I can’t, for the sake of my integrity, stand up here and let everybody that’s counting on me crumble so I can make a statement. There are ways to win the war in a different way.”

“So let me ask you this—do you think there would be a different outcome? Do you think the outcome would be different if you played by the rules?”

“What did you tell me?”

“I was willing to do what was necessary.”

“But when you’re saying, ‘Hey, I have to do this the right way,’ you have to understand, we’re in the money game. This ain’t the Black man’s game, this ain’t the White man’s game. This is the money game! And you can’t sacrifice yourself, because you keep saying to yourself, ‘If I go public, or if I do this,’ then that ain’t nobody else going with me. We can’t afford to lose you.”

“And we can’t afford to lose you, Steve.”

“We can’t lose you. But you are so valuable to our community—”

“So, you know what I would have preferred? That you and I talked personally.”

“It wouldn’t matter!”

“It would.”

“And that’s what Steve was saying: forget about your integrity, forget about your name, and go after the bag. But let me tell you why I hate Steve Harvey, and it has nothing to do with this Mo’Nique situation, even though it ties into it.”