Mo’Nique criticizes Oprah for speaking about Houston’s alleged drug use when she can’t defend herself.
Rickey Smiley condemns Oprah and Gayle King for discussing the personal struggles of public figures.
Whitney’s estate refutes Oprah’s claims, stating that her fall was due to stage lighting and not drug use.
Mo’Nique offers some “correction” to her eternal enemy, Oprathis time after the media mogul’s highly criticized comments about the late, great Whitney Houston.
Source: Steve Granitz/Vince Bucci/Michael Loccisano
During a recent appearance on the My husband is my best friend On YouTube channel, the comedian and Oscar winner was asked about her opinion on Oprah’s claim that Houston had fallen off stage during a taping of her show due to alleged drug use.
“How do you talk about someone who can’t defend it?” Mo’Nique said. “That makes it different, in my humble opinion, because that woman can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and now you just want everyone to take your word for it. I think that’s unfair.”
She continued,
“I still love my sister, Oprah Winfrey, let me be clear about that. People think correction means you don’t love. It’s just correction.”
This isn’t the first time Mo’Nique has mentioned Oprah in the name of “correction.”
Many may recall that the two, along with Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels, have had a long-standing and public feud since working together on the 2009 film. Wonderful. Daniels and Mo’Nique have since made up and collaborated on the Netflix film The liberation (2024); However, the comedian and actress have stood by their assessment that Oprah wronged them during the promotion of Precious and have refused to give her proper compensation.
Oprah’s comments about the beloved Nippy were met with resistance, as many people shared the same feelings as Mo’Nique. Comedian and radio host Rickey Smiley, whose own son struggled with drug use before his untimely death from an accidental overdose in 2023, spoke out against Oprah’s decision to share the alleged incident and also called out her best friend and fellow journalist Gayle King on the carpet.
“I don’t care if she was high,” Smiley said in a livestream. “Whitney Houston is gone and she meant a lot to us. Whitney Houston was a big sister to many of us and she is basically the aunt of Black America. And everyone has a Whitney Houston in their family; someone they love, who is talented. It’s something about Whitney Houston’s death, we took her death personally. We don’t care about (the alleged incident), that was something we didn’t need to know. Whitney Houston is someone you just don’t talk to about in the black community, if you have contact.
He continued,
“That’s the black royal family that you just don’t talk about. We don’t play about Whitney Houston. I don’t care what her pitfalls were, we all have pitfalls. We’ve all had people we know or family members struggle with addiction. Why would you bring that up? Why is it when it comes to you and Gayle – I remember when Kobe Bryant died, she interviewed Lisa Leslie and asked her about a sexual assault charge that he was found innocent of – why is it that you all want that bring it up Did you ask the public not to take pictures of it just to bring it up? You guys are out of touch with the black community.”
The story raised even more eyebrows when Houston’s estate, led by her sister-in-law Pat Houston, released a statement refuting Oprah’s claims. According to Houston, Whitney’s fall was due to a poorly lit stage, and not to her drug use.
“From the 2009 interview on the Oprah Winfrey show, Whitney absolutely fell off the stage, but that was during a sound check and that was due to the darkness of the area and her unfamiliarity with the stage,” the statement reads. Hollywood reporter. “She was definitely not high. This story was picked up by several media outlets. Like many people, she has faced personal battles, but it is incorrect and unfair to tie those struggles to every performance or chapter of her life.”
She continued,
“Whitney’s humanity included triumphs and struggles, but on that day she emerged as the professional and gifted artist she always wanted to be. We owe her the dignity of telling the truth, not repeating myths.”
Neither Oprah nor her team has responded to Whitney’s estate statement or issued a retraction.
Leave a Reply