Actress and comedian Mo’Nique has filed a lawsuit against CBS and Paramount Pictures for unpaid royalties from her sitcom “The Parkers.”
The breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by The Associated Press alleges the defendants artificially depressed the show’s profitability to “retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due” to Mo’Nique’s production company.
The suit was filed by Hicks Media, the production company Mo’Nique owns with her husband and business partner, Sidney Hicks.
“While the Series has proven to be a major financial success for its producers and distributors, the series’ talent have not been permitted to share in the fruits of that success,” the suit says.
The show’s production company, Big Ticket Productions, is also named as a defendant in the trial.
“The Parkers,” a spinoff of the sitcom “Moesha,” ran for five seasons and 110 episodes on the UPN network, a forerunner of The CW, from 1999 to 2004. Mo’Nique starred as Nikki Parker, a mother who returns to the same college her daughter is attending.
The show has been playing reruns for years now and have been available to stream on Netflix since 2020.
This isn’t Mo’Nique’s first lawsuit. The Oscar-winning actress sued Netflix for race and sex discrimination in its offer for a proposed comedy special, accusing the streaming service of giving her a lowball offer that was part of a larger company tendency to underpay black women. The suit was settled last year.
Mo’Nique, real name Monique Angela Hicks, first gained fame as a stand-up comedian and was among the “Queens of Comedy” featured in the 2000 film of the same name. She won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance in the 2009 movie “Precious.”
Mo confirmed the lawsuit in an Instagram post. She also explained that executive producers of the show just settled in a similar suit.
She wrote, “To further make my point, the Executive Producers of ‘The Parkers’ took legal action for the same concerns that I have, and they’ve already settled.”
Mo added, “Unfortunately, all too often, talent gets kept in the dark. We’re looking forward to shedding some light on the subject!”
She ended the post with, “I LOVE US 4REAL!!”
Along with Mo’Nique, “The Parkers” cast consisted of Countess Vaughn, Ken Lawson, Yvette Wilson, Dorien Wilson, and Jenna von Oy. If compensation is due, hopefully the entire cast will get a piece of it.
