Mo'Nique sues CBS and Paramount, claims she's owed 'millions' in unpaid royalties for sitcom The Parkers
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After settling her lawsuit with Netflix last year, Mo'Nique is taking legal action against three more media giants.
The actress and comedian filed a breach of contract lawsuit against CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Big Ticket Productions in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, claiming she is owed unpaid royalties from her sitcom The Parkers, per court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
She is seeking monetary damages, which she has requested to be determined by a jury at trial, as well as reimbursement of her legal fees.
Mo'Nique alleged in the complaint that the companies unfairly structured the show's profitability so that they could "retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due" to her and husband Sidney Hicks' production company Hicks Media. It noted, "While the series has proven to be a major financial success for its producers and distributors, the series' talent have not been permitted to share in the fruits of that success."
Aaron Poole/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Mo'Nique
The legal docs also stated that Mo'Nique "reasonably expected to enjoy significant contingent compensation from the series' revenues," given The Parkers' success, citing how the sitcom both "ceased production after 110 episodes (placing it above the lucrative 100-episode threshold traditionally necessary for a television show to be syndicated)" and "the contractual limitations placed on how the series' AGR must be calculated." However, it continued, "That expectation has not proven to be the reality."
Mo'Nique learned about the alleged breach of contract through a similar complaint the writers and creators of The Parkers filed in which claimed they were not paid fairly, per the documents.
The actress' suit added, "Plaintiff is further informed and believes and thereupon alleges that the series' writers and creators performed a forensic audit [and] that this forensic audit of the series' books and records strongly suggested that defendants have inequitably structured the series' finances to artificially depress its profitability and retain millions that would otherwise be contractually due and owing to plaintiff."
A spin-off of the 1990s Brandy show Moesha, The Parkers centered around Nicole "Nikki" Parker (Mo'Nique) and Kimberly Ann "Kim" Parker (Countess Vaughn), a mom-and-daughter duo who attend Santa Monica College together. The sitcom, which aired for five seasons from 1999-2004, also starred Dorien Wilson, Yvette Wilson, Ken L., Mari Morrow, and Jenna von Oÿ.
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