Empire TV Show Cast: Monique Proves She Was Offered ‘Empire’ Role by Providing Emails With Lee Daniels
Academy award wining actress Mo'Nique Jackson sat down for an interview on "Sway in the Morning" radio show and discussed the conflict between herself and "Empire" director Lee Daniels.
The rising tension between Jackson and Daniels first began after Jackson spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about her acting career since winning the Academy award for Daniels' film "Precious."
Jackson revealed that her acting career took a nosedive after Daniels allegedly informed her that she had been blackballed in Hollywood.
In a separate interview with Access Hollywood, Jackson also claimed that the role of Cookie, which Taraji P. Henson plays in "Empire" was originally offered to her. "Empire" co-creator Danny Strong has denied Jackson's claims both on Twitter and on "Sway in the Morning."
However, during Jackson's "Sway in the Morning" interview, she provided the hosts with emails between Lee Daniels' team and her management discussing her role as "Cookie" on "Empire."
"Sway in the Morning" host Sway Calloway read Jackson's emails out loud on the show and the emails seemingly prove that Jackson is telling the truth about her initial involvement on "Empire," MaseTV reports.
"Lee Daniels had a conversation with Mo'Nique about his new television pilot for Imagine Tv/Fox called "Empire," said Sway reading an email. "We would like to screen test her for the role of 'Cookie.' Please contact us with her television quotes, so that we can start a test, option, deal. We are tentatively looking at Monday, Feb 24 for the screen test."
Following her "Sway in the Morning" interview, Jackson spoke to the Huffington Post about why she chose to air out the emails.
Jackson insists that she did not mean to be vindictive. Instead, she used the emails as a way to clear her name and reputation, which was being hindered because of her conflict with Daniels.
"Before I gave those emails to Sway, we sent Mr. Daniels an email -- because we love that brother -- to say, 'Hey brother, we don't want to blindside you, we want to let you know we're gonna have to show these because what you're doing right now is you are having my character put in question," Jackson told the Huffington Post. "I had to do that is because I take pride in my character. I take pride in my integrity."
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