CBS Fighting Mo’Nique’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Millions Owed in Unpaid 'The Parkers' Royalties
Feb. 13 2024, Published 11:05 a.m. ET
CBS and the production company behind The Parkers slammed Mo’Nique’s multi-million lawsuit over alleged royalties owed for the sitcom.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Paramount, CBS and Big Ticket Productions asked a court to dismiss multiple claims brought in the comedian’s bombshell lawsuit.
In court, the entertainer accused the defendants of breach of contract. She said she was owed millions in unpaid royalties from the hit sitcom.
Per EW, Mo’Nique claimed the defendants “unfairly structured the show's profitability” which allowed them to “retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due” to Mo’Nique and her husband Sidney Hick’s production company Hicks Media.
The Parkers aired on UPN, which was owned by Viacom, allowed Big Ticket Productions to pay a below-market fee to distribute the show.
“The suit also suggests that the show was packaged for cable distribution at below-market rates, further depressing its profitability,” Variety explained.
The lawsuit read, “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."
Mo’Nique said she “expected to enjoy significant contingent compensation from the series' revenues.” She pointed out the show filmed 110 episodes, which meant it passed the lucrative 100-episode mark for a show to be placed into syndication.
“That expectation has not proven to be the reality,” the suit read.
Mo’Nique’s lawsuit came after the show’s writers, Ralph Farquhar, Sara Finney-Johnson and Vida Spears, filed a lawsuit against CBS over similar claims. The suit was settled in 2022.
In the newly filed response, the defendants argued for two claims to be dismissed. They said she brought her case after finding out about the writer’s lawsuit.
CBS and the production company slammed the lawsuit. Their lawyers wrote, “it is abundantly clear that [Mo’Nique] is not actually aware of any basis for any of the claims brought in this action. [Mo’Nique] makes it clear that its allegations are premised on “information and belief” based on an audit performed on behalf of the writers and creators of “The Parkers” (the “Series”) and subsequent litigation filed by those writers/creators.”
The defendants said the comedian alleges “that the audit (which Plaintiff concedes it did not join at the time the audit was being conducted) “strongly suggested” that Defendants have not paid Plaintiff its proper participation share.”
CBS and the production company said Mo’Nique was offered the chance to participate in the audit with the writers but declined.
Their lawyer added, “In other words, [Mo’Nique’s] lawsuit is based on the allegations of an unverified complaint in a different lawsuit filed by third parties (and that was resolved and dismissed shortly after filing)—and that lawsuit, in turn, was based on an audit that [Mo’Nique] was not a part of and that produced a report [Mo’Nique] does not allege to have even seen. [Mo’Nique] does not actually know what occurred during the course of that audit, what information was provided, what ultimate conclusion the auditor reached, or how the audit was resolved. Nevertheless, [Mo’Nique] has elected not to perform her own audit to determine what facts (if any) might support her claims, but rather to merely copy allegations from the separate lawsuit where [Mo’Nique] had no role to make baseless and inflammatory public statements.”
The defendants said the entertainer never made any claims she was not paid on time or prevented from doing her own audit.
Mo’Nique has yet to respond.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Mo’Nique caused a stir last week during her appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast.