Comedy legend Sinbad talks getting curved by Netflix and why ‘Black Panther's’ success can be scary
Sinbad comments on Mo’Nique’s dispute with Netflix, his own comedy career, and more.
Comedian and television and film star Sinbad was today’s special guest on The Breakfast Club. During his visit, he defended fellow comedic legend Mo’Nique’s call for gender, racial and age equality. “She was correct when she said what they offered her is an insult,” said Sinbad. “If your partners or whoever are getting 10 million or 20 million you do have to fight for your thing.” The interview also covered him speaking on being curved by Netflix, his thoughts on comedians calling each other out and why the success of Black Panther can be scary.
On Mo’Nique vs. Netflix: “She was good with it until that video where she said, ‘I humbly say that I’m the most decorated comedian alive.’ Everything that you were saying was correct, but that moment – I can’t back that. Because out of all of the Black comedians alive, when you decorated or talented, I don’t know, because people like Whoopi Goldberg are alive. That’s a hard mantle to take.”
On why Netflix decided to not work with him: “Yeah, they won’t call me. Netflix? No. They said, ‘We have an analytical structure. We have analytics that decide who should be on stage.’
“I told my agent that I’m going to just write my own stuff and put some shows together and then when they come in I’ll say I want $21 million.”
On comedians calling each other out: “Sometimes comics who are not as funny as you are are the ones that Hollywood picks. You go, ‘Damn, what?’ You’re out here killing it and they grab this cat, but you can’t be mad. If it had been you, would you be mad? You gotta just keep moving. Like horses when they race, they have on blinders so that they can’t see other horses.”
On the success of Black Panther being scary: “We were so happy to see black people, black heroes, dark skin, bald heads – I said, ‘Jesus, that was the most eclectic group of Blacks I think we’ll ever see in another movie.’ Now the key is what are you going to do next, because sometimes success almost scares them like, ‘Look man, that almost worked too well, because now we can’t say that it doesn’t work.’”
See more of Sinbad’s interview with The Breakfast Club above.