Mo'Nique Jackson (Photo : Twitter/Mo'Nique Worldwide)
Academy Award-winning actress Mo'Nique Jackson recently claimed that she was offered a lead role on the hit series "Empire."
In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Jackson recounted the time when she was first offered to play Cookie by the TV show's director, Lee Daniels, before the role was eventually given to Taraji P. Henson.
"Mr. Daniels offered me the part of Cookie, and I have the emails and the sides to go along with it, and what he said was, 'I'm new to this TV thing. This is just a technicality. You have the role,'" Jackson said. "Okay, I have the emails. Well, four days have gone by because I didn't receive a phone call or another email for the location where I was supposed to go to do the screen test."
According to Jackson, the network told Daniels that they felt she was difficult to work with so they decided to tap another actress.
However, "Empire" executive producer Danny Strong slammed Jackson and said that she was never offered any role on the series.
"Mo'Nique was never offered roles in 'Empire' or 'The Butler.' #SettingRecordStraight @leedanielsent," he tweeted.
In a follow up tweet, Strong wrote, "@TheGrouchyPuppy Monique is so talented she'd be great in almost anything. But Cookie was always @TherealTaraji."
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson talked about her ongoing conflict with Daniels, who allegedly told her that her career has been blackballed in Hollywood.
"There is absolutely no beef, and I never believed, nor did I ever say, that I was blackballed. It's a statement that Mr. Daniels made to me, so by no means, do I think that I have been blackballed from Hollywood," she said.
