Things got a bit real on The Breakfast Club during a Friday interview with comedian Mo’Nique, when the comedian confronted Charlamagne Tha God over naming her “Donkey of the Day.”
The actress stopped by to discuss the recent Netflix controversy and her reputation in Hollywood. Though it’s clear she meant business from the very beginning, she kicked off the interview using Charlamagne’s government name, Lenard, and asked why he called her DOTD.
Both went back and forth about the situation, with Mo’Nique asking Charlamagne why he would treat someone from his own community that way, “What you’re saying to the community is, as Black women, you’re devalued. And if you stand up and you make a stand and you say ‘We need equality’ and we have to say what’s right and what’s fair. And then a brother that looks like me from South Carolina [says] that ‘[I’m] the Donkey of the Day,’ you [Charlamagne] have to explain that to the community.”
The comedian and actress later went on to comment on the treatment she’s received from members of Hollywood, like Will Packer and Lee Daniels, to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the racial and gender bias women face every day, which Charlamagne quickly called out, “It’s a difference between mistreatment and sexual assault, Mo’Nique. We can’t put out false equivalencies about people. I understand what you’re trying to say, but it’s a difference between mistreatment and sexual assault.”
The interview remained somewhat heated as the hosts and Mo’Nique discussed rumors about her reputation and continued to grill her about Netflix.
At the end of the program, as Mo’Nique prepared to leave, the comedian said to Charlamagne, “You know what, brotha? You’re going to hear yourself a lot from me lately. You’re going to hear yourself around the world. We have to explain brothas like you, we do. And, when we watched that movie Birth of a Nation and we saw that man walk his wife into that master’s house, we watched him walk his wife in. Then we watched him go back and get ’em— you’re that brotha.”
Check out the clip and see the drama for yourself.