“It took me a minute to say what I’m getting ready to say because I want to make sure I’m not saying it from a place of judgment and that I’m saying it from a place of love,” Mo’Nique told her one million Instagram followers.
“Some of y’all have given me the title of auntie, and I’m honored that y’all do that. But there are times that auntie has to talk to her babies and say some real s**t.”
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Mo’nique shared that while she was traveling to Jackson, Mississippi, for a gig, when she was shaken by how many “young sistas” she saw wearing “head bonnets, scarfs, slippers pajamas, [and] blankets wrapped around them” at the airport.
“I’ve been seeing it not just at the airport. I’ve been seeing it at the store, at the mall,” Mo’Nique said. “When did we lose our pride in representing ourselves? When did we slip away of let me make sure I’m presentable when I leave my home?”
While she made it very clear that she wasn’t suggesting that women always wear a “full face of makeup” or a lace front when out in public, she emphasized, “All I’m saying is, could you please comb your hair?”
“I’m not saying you don’t have pride but the representation that you’re showing someone will have to ask you to know if you have it,” she added. “It’s not to get a man … it is just your representation of you, my sweet babies.”
The Precious actress told women to take her message as a “warning,” and she vowed to speak up if she happened to see them “in the streets, in the airports, in the Walmart and you got a bonnet on, and you got slippers on and you looking like what the f**k.”
“Auntie Nikki’ gon tap you and say, ‘Hey baby girl, show you what you’re worth, show you what you deserve.”
Mo’Nique also urged “wiser sistas” to join her in correcting what she sees as not representing themselves with pride.
Related Story: Plies Said That Women Should Not Wear Bonnets Out In Public
However, this auntie’s comment didn’t sit too well with a lot of folks.
One person commented under her post and said, “Pride is a foolish thing to hold onto. Why can’t I just wear what I want, be comfortable, be myself, and love it without ppl thinking Idc. What does it matter what I look like to other ppl? They don’t know me or my heart. My heart and spirit, and mind should be the only thing that dictates whether I’m “presentable” enough to be in public. Clothes and outer appearance don’t make the person. What’s on the inside does…”
Another person said, “This was such a disappointment. Imagine women growing up watching you be loud, curse, grab your crotch and make heinous jokes just for you to turn around and police women for wearing a bonnet?”
After catching heat for her brash comments, Mo’nique was quick to come up with a follow-up.
In a video posted on her Instagram account, she captioned her post, “UNAPOLOGETIC…Hey, my beautiful babies. I’m okay with some of you being in your feelings. I LOVE YALL & SOMETIMES THAT LOVE AINT EASY. I am here for the CHALLENGE. And ain’t NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME FROM LOVING YOU
.”
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In the video, she said, “So for you babies that have taken offense to what I said, I’m okay with that. I’m okay with y’all being in your feelings about it, ’cause when you love somebody for real, I know y’all will get over that. And when y’all say, ‘we will cancel yo ass,’ well, they’ve tried that, and I’m still here.”
Mo’nique ended her video by saying that even though she got some heat for her comments– it’s all love for the Black community.
