In a wide-ranging sit-down with Raquel Harper of TMZ, Lee Daniels is addressing a lot of the recent headlines surrounding him, mostly about Damon Dash and Mo’Nique.
Daniels said he agrees Dash should be given his money and that he respects him, although the money Dash contributed was an “investment,” not a loan.
He said, “It was an investment, but I looked him in the eyes, and I told him that you would get your investment back. This black man gave me money when nobody (else would), not Disney, not Sony, not TriStar, not Paramount, not Warner Bros…I’m going to work out something for him to get it because I am in a position now to get it to him.”
After the interview was released, Dash quickly commented on it via an Instagram post, saying:
However, Daniels quickly disputed the instances in which people have compared the situation with him and Dash to that of Mo’Nique saying Daniels, Tyler Perry and Oprah blackballed her.
“People are confusing the Damon Dash (situation) with the Mo’Nique (situation)…“I fought hard for her to get that job. I wanted her to get that job. And she was paid her money. She was paid the money for the budget that we had. And for her to badmouth myself and Tyler and Oprah is disrespectful and it’s wrong. She’s out of pocket. She’s really wrong. I 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 … and it breaks my heart that she feels that we blackballed her. No one blackballed her. Mo’Nique blackballed her. And for her to continue to speak about Oprah and myself and Tyler is disrespectful. I don’t get her motive.”
Watch the full interview below, which shows him confirming that he’s helming a new Billie Holiday biopic starring Andra Day and Lakeith Stanfield, and also speaking for one of the few times about his sexuality in an interview:
