Thursday, February 15, 2024

CBS Paramount Responds to Mo'Nique Lawsuit


Last year comedian Mo'Nique filed a lawsuit against CBS Paramount over unpaid royalties from her popular 'Moesha' spinoff 'The Parkers [click here if you missed that].' 

CBS Paramount fires back...

CBS and the production company behind The Parkers slammed Mo’Nique’s multi-million lawsuit over alleged royalties owed for the sitcom.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Paramount, CBS and Big Ticket Productions asked a court to dismiss multiple claims brought in the comedian’s bombshell lawsuit.
Mo’Nique’s lawsuit came after the show’s writers, Ralph Farquhar, Sara Finney-Johnson and Vida Spears, filed a lawsuit against CBS over similar claims. The suit was settled in 2022.
In the newly filed response, the defendants argued for two claims to be dismissed. They said she brought her case after finding out about the writer’s lawsuit.
CBS and the production company slammed the lawsuit. Their lawyers wrote, “it is abundantly clear that [Mo’Nique] is not actually aware of any basis for any of the claims brought in this action. [Mo’Nique] makes it clear that its allegations are premised on “information and belief” based on an audit performed on behalf of the writers and creators of “The Parkers” (the “Series”) and subsequent litigation filed by those writers/creators.”
The defendants said the comedian alleges “that the audit (which Plaintiff concedes it did not join at the time the audit was being conducted) “strongly suggested” that Defendants have not paid Plaintiff its proper participation share.”
CBS and the production company said Mo’Nique was offered the chance to participate in the audit with the writers but declined.
Their lawyer added, “In other words, [Mo’Nique’s] lawsuit is based on the allegations of an unverified complaint in a different lawsuit filed by third parties (and that was resolved and dismissed shortly after filing)—and that lawsuit, in turn, was based on an audit that [Mo’Nique] was not a part of and that produced a report [Mo’Nique] does not allege to have even seen. [Mo’Nique] does not actually know what occurred during the course of that audit, what information was provided, what ultimate conclusion the auditor reached, or how the audit was resolved. Nevertheless, [Mo’Nique] has elected not to perform her own audit to determine what facts (if any) might support her claims, but rather to merely copy allegations from the separate lawsuit where [Mo’Nique] had no role to make baseless and inflammatory public statements.”
The defendants said the entertainer never made any claims she was not paid on time or prevented from doing her own audit.

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