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    Mo’Nique sues CBS, Paramount over “Parkers” royalties

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2180 Views
    Academy Award-winning actress and comedian Mo'Nique appears at the premiere of "Almost Christmas" in Los Angeles, Nov. 3, 2016. Mo'Nique sued Paramount and CBS on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, seeking what the Oscar-winning actor and comedian says are unpaid royalties from her sitcom “The Parkers.” (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

    By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Mo'Nique sued Paramount and CBS on Wednesday, seeking what the Oscar-winning actor and comedian says are 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.

    "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 suit was filed by Hicks Media, the production company Mo'Nique owns with her husband and business partner, Sidney Hicks. It names as defendants CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures and the show's production company Big Ticket Productions. It seeks monetary damages to be determined at trial.

    Emails seeking comment were sent to representatives of the defendants.

    The suit says the series' creators and writers have been similarly underpaid, and that Mo'Nique learned of the alleged breach of contract when they recently filed a similar lawsuit.

    "I just want the contractual compensation that I've earned," Mo'Nique said in a statement.

    "The Parkers," a spinoff of the sitcom "Moesha," ran for five seasons and 110 episodes on the now-defunct network UPN, 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 rerun in syndication in various forms since, and has been available for streaming on Netflix since 2020.

    In a previous lawsuit, Mo'Nique 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 is not shy about taking on these David vs. Goliath battles in Hollywood to challenge these questionable practices that are endemic to the industry," David deRubertis, one of her attorneys in both lawsuits, said in a statement.

    The 55-year-old actor, whose legal name is Monique Angela Hicks, first gained fame as a stand-up comic 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."

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    Tags:CBSMo'NiqueParamountThe Parkers



    William Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage join the voice cast for Starburn Industries’ “Lincoln in the Bardo”

    Friday, August 28, 2026
    Peter Dinklage (photo by Whitney Matewe)

    Actors Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage have joined the voice cast of Starburns Industries’ “Lincoln in the Bardo,” based on acclaimed author George Saunders’ New York Times bestseller and 2017 Booker Prize-winner.  Saunders adapted the screenplay, with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Duke Johnson directing.  It was announced earlier that Tom Hanks stars as the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, in the live action portion of the film.  CAA Media Finance and WME Independent are handling sales at the upcoming TIFF: The Market.

    The film employs a unique blend of stop-motion animation and live action to explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln’s life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased eleven-year-old son.  Blending history and imagination, the story unfolds through an unforgettable ensemble of characters – living and dead, historical and invented – to explore themes of love, empathy, and the human capacity for connection in the face of unimaginable grief.

    Reverend Everly Thomas – the ghost of a minister who died believing he would go to heaven, but, to his dismay, found out otherwise – is voiced by Dafoe.  Bailey is voicing Roger Bevins, the ghost of a young gay man who took his own life over a failed love affair and instantly regretted it.  Dinklage is voicing Hans Vollman, a ghost obsessed with his dream of being reunited with his much-younger wife.

    Four-time Academy Award nominee Dafoe’s credits include animated films “Finding Nemo,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Boy and the Heron,” as well as “At Eternity’s Gate,” “The Florida Project,” “Shadow of the Vampire” and seminal Vietnam movie... Read More

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