When Damon Dash publicly confronted Lee Daniels at a Diana Ross concert last week over an alleged $2 million loan, you might have thought to yourself, โMoโNique was right.โ
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MoโNique has accused the director, whom she worked with on Precious, of blackballing her after her Academy Award win, admonishing her for not โplaying the gameโ of campaigning for her role during Oscar season. Her allegations that Daniels was unsavory and disloyal echoed in his latest encounter with Dash, who brought a camera crew to record his contentious conversation with the director.
Now, Daniels has commented on both relationships, saying they couldnโt be more different from each other.
Speaking to TMZโs Raquel Harper in a video released this weekend, Daniels claims the money Dash gave him was an investment (Dashโs $5 million lawsuit claims otherwise).
โIt was an investment, but I looked him in the eyes, and I told him that you would get your investment back,โ Daniels told Harper. โThis black man gave me money when nobody [would], not Disney, not Sony, not TriStar, not Paramount, not Warner Bros.โ
Daniels vowed to pay back Dashโs investment, saying, โIโm going to work out something for him to get it because I am in a position now to get it to him.โ
โI donโt know if I would be successful if it werenโt for him,โ he added.
But his tune changed altogether on the subject of MoโNique, saying that the comedian and actress โneeds to shut up.โ
โPeople are confusing the Damon Dash [situation], with the MoโNique [situation]โ he said.
Daniels stressed that he โfought hard for herโ to get the role and that MonโNique was paid the money she was owed for the budget he had. But he called her criticism of him disrespectful, wrong, and โout of pocket.โ
โI respect her [as an] actor because she gave me her soul. But I gave her my soul, and for that, she was given the Golden Globe and the Academy Award,โ said Daniels, in a statement that could be construed as him trying to take credit for both her performance and her accolades.
That certainly appears to be how Harper took it.
โBlack girl magic, at the time, which you gave herโ she concurred.
โNo one blackballed her. Moโnique blackballed [herself] and for her to continue to talk about Oprah and myself and Tyler [Perry] is disrespectful,โ he said, adding that the intimacy they experienced working together on set was like โmaking love without having sex.โ
Dash has already responded to Danielsโ comments, sharing a copy of the video on his Instagram page with the caption, โWeโre good bro. Appreciate the honesty.โ
โTime to move forward. Letโs forget the bubble gum shit and get the money,โ he added.
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