Source: E! Entertainment / Getty
Mo’Nique is definitely the queen of speaking her mind, but after her most recent comments regarding women wearing bonnets in public, the comedienne explains exactly why she meant what she said.
Earlier this week, the Academy Award-winning actress stirred up controversy after weighing in on the online debate regarding whether or not Black women should be wearing bonnets in public.; agreeing that Black women should not wear their bonnets outside the home.
“I’ve been seeing it not just at the airport. I’ve been seeing it at the store, at the mall… When did we lose our pride in representing ourselves? When did we slip away of let me make sure I’m presentable when I leave my home?” the Oscar-winning Precious actress stated in an Instagram video she posted over the weekend.
While some fans agreed with the Golden Globe winner, others began calling out Mo’Nique dubbing the respectability rant as a full-on attack on Black women’s hair and another example of society’s way of policing Black women’s hair and playing into respectability politics.
Despite the pushback, Mo’Nique is standing by her statements, releasing a second video in response to backlash adding that her observation was about “representation” and not policing.
“All I’m saying is could you please comb your hair?,” Mo said. “I’m not saying you don’t have pride but the representation that you’re showing someone will have to ask you to know if you have it. It’s not to get a man … it is just your representation of you, my sweet babies.”
In the follow-up video, Mo also addressed fans who she may have upset with her comment sharing a personal experience with Patti Labelle and Margaret Avery, whom both poured into her life and shared with her the hard truth about things she needed to change to remain successful.
“There were two people in my life that, had I taken a different attitude, I could have felt like they was rubbing me wrong, but I’m glad I took the attitude of appreciation and gratitude because they tapped me, and that was Patti LaBelle and Margaret Avery,” Mo began her video response to the backlash.
“Patti had to tap me one night when we were getting ready to do a show and I was in my feelings over some s— and that woman had to come to tap me and tell me to get myself together. And she didn’t tell me with lollipop kisses and pancakes with syrup all over it. She told me what I really needed to hear. And I was grateful for that-that night because it impacted my life,” she continued.
Mo’Nique also shared her gratitude for Avery calling her to her dressing to praise her hard work and encourage her to lose weight.
“I’m glad those two women loved me enough that they would go out of their way to talk to me in a way that aunties, mamas, big sisters talk to their little sisters, nieces, grandbabies, daughters,” said Mo’Nique. “I was grateful for that because it allowed me to think about things differently. Never once did I think those women were trying to be offensive,” she added, referring to Patti and Margaret’s advice as “nothing but love.”
“So for you babies that have taken offense to what I said, I’m okay with that. I’m okay with ya’ll being in your feelings about it, ‘cause when you love somebody for real, I know y’all will get over that. And when y’all say, ‘we will cancel yo ass,’ well, they’ve tried that, and I’m still here.”
Check out the video below.
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