U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. has ruled that Mo’Nique’s lawsuit againstNetflixcan move forward. Netflix had hoped to have the case dismissed, but the Judge felt the streaming service’s treatment of the comedian provided sufficient grounds for the suit to continue.
Mo’Nique, whose legal name is Monique Hicks, filed her suit in November of last year, accusing Netflix of racial and gender discrimination. In 2018, Netflix offered Hicks $500,000 to film a comedy special. She felt to be egregiously low, considering the millions Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock were offered for similar specials. Sheposted a video to Instagramasking fans to boycott the streaming giant, breaking down her understanding of Netflix’s thought process, which essentially boiled down to “that’s what Netflix thinks she’s worth.”
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Mo’Nique chalks Netflix’s attitude up to a lack of diversity in the company’s upper echelons, claiming the service has a history of insensitivity to black people. Her suit cites statistics that only 6% of Netflix’s workforce is black.
Netflix responded to the suit with a statement saying, “We care deeply about inclusion, equity, and diversity and take any accusations of discrimination very seriously. We believe our opening offer to Mo’Nique was fair.”
However, it is not the opening offer per se, but Netflix’s alleged refusal to negotiate it that is at the heart of the suit. Mo’Nique claims that Netflix shut down negotiations once she raised questions of racial and gender bias, which is illegal. Netflix countered by saying ceasing “good-faith negotiations because she raised concerns about pay discrimination is not retaliation under the law” but Judge Birotte disagreed.
Mo’Nique’s lawyer, David deRubertis called the ruling a victory, saying, “Employers in the entertainment industry need to take pay discrimination concerns seriously, fix them if the concerns have merit, and never retaliate against those who have the courage to speak up about equal pay.”
