Mo'Nique
filed a lawsuit against CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Los
Angeles production company Big Ticket Productions this week in Los
Angeles Superior Court. The actor and comedian claims she's owed unpaid royalties from her early '00s sitcom, "The Parkers."
- "The
Parkers" -- a spinoff of "Moesha" -- aired for five seasons on UPN,
from 1999 to 2004; Mo'Nique co-starred with Countess Vaughn as a mom
attending community college alongside her daughter.
- 110 total episodes were produced, above the 100-episode threshold that allows for syndication.
- Mo'Nique
claims that her deal was unfairly structured, allowing producers to
retain millions of dollars that should have been paid out to Hicks
Media, the company that she co-owned with husband Sidney Hicks.
- The
lawsuit refers to a forensic audit performed at the request of the
show's writers and creators, which demonstrates that the show's
profitability was "artificially depressed" in order to deny payouts to
Hicks Media.
- In 2022, Mo'Nique settled a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Netflix; terms of that deal were not disclosed.
