Mo'Nique and Lee Daniels reconcile onstage after 13-year public feud: 'I am so sorry for hurting you in any way'
- Mo'Nique and Lee Daniels reconciled after a public feud.
- Daniels, 62, apologized onstage to Mo'Nique, 54, at her comedy show on Friday.
Director Lee Daniels and comedian Mo'Nique have officially reconciled after publicly feuding in the media for years.
On Friday, footage shared online showed that Daniels, 62, joined Mo'Nique, 54, onstage in New York City while attending her event, "Mo'Nique and Friends: April Fools' Day with The Queen of Comedy." The pair worked together on the award-winning film "Precious," but had a public falling out soon afterward during which she claimed Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler Perry, who served as producers on the film, helped blackball her in the entertainment industry.
Daniels and Mo'Nique didn't speak for 13 years, Deadline reported.
"I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did," Daniels told Mo'Nique onstage before pivoting towards the crowd. "Y'all, and she was my best friend — my best friend. Y'all think that 'Precious' was just … That was God working, through both of us."
He added: "And we're gonna fucking do it again!"
Deadline reported on Friday that Mo'Nique would replace Octavia Spencer in his upcoming Netflix film, "Demon House."
Mo'Nique posted a photo of her and Daniels on Friday night, writing, "NO CAPTION NEEDED I LOVE US 4REAL."
Representatives for Daniels and Mo'Nique did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Mo'Nique won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2010 for her work in "Precious" but later spoke out against Daniels and other celebrities. Deadline reported that Mo'Nique accused Daniels, Winfrey, and Perry of blackballing her because she wouldn't promote the film during awards season.
She reflected on a conversation with Daniels with The Hollywood Reporter's Seth Abramovitch in February 2015, saying: "I got a phone call from Lee Daniels maybe six or seven months ago," Mo'Nique said. "And he said to me, 'Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed.' And I said, 'I've been blackballed? Why have I been blackballed?' And he said, 'Because you didn't play the game.' And I said, 'Well, what game is that?' And he gave me no response."
Mo'Nique told THR at the time that she "received a lot of criticism" for not participating during that award show season and, following the film's success, she didn't see the type of pay increase she expected.
Daniels, Perry, and Winfrey denied the claims, with Daniels saying in a statement to THR that Mo'Nique's "demands through 'Precious' were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community."
One month later, Mo'Nique appeared on Good Morning America and said Daniels was upset because "I didn't say his name the night of the Oscar awards."
In July 2018, Daniels told TMZ that Mo'Nique was responsible for being blackballed from Hollywood.
"It breaks my heart that she feels that we blackballed her. No one blackballed her. Mo'Nique blackballed her," he said. "And for her to continue to speak about Oprah and myself and Tyler is disrespectful."