There’s a lot of heat swirling around a recently videotaped argument between one-time entertainment mogul Dame Dash and Oscar-winning director Lee Daniels. Dash reportedly loaned Daniels $2 million to complete the film Precious. Despite reportedly promising to pay Dash back within a few months, Daniels has been negligent in repaying him. Dash would likely say that Daniels was avoiding him.
It’s indeed a small world. Even smaller when you’re black and making moves in the entertainment industry. So, it was only a matter of time before Dash was able to directly address Daniels for failing to repay.
There’s something to be said for how black and brown people working in film and television have to maintain a certain decorum as not to invite criticism, prejudice or ridicule with their actions. In other words, its an ongoing personal PR fight for individuals to avoid being labelled as “ghetto”, “loud” or “difficult”. Being called any of the aforementioned adjectives by individuals in a position to say yes or no to one’s works is hard to come back from.
Damon Dash “Lee Daniels owes me 2 million dollars” Culture Vultures
Damon Dash approaches Lee Daniels at a Diana Ross concert about his 2 million dollars. Plus bonus footage of Dame expressing his problem with Lee Daniels from the “Culture Vultures” Book Available Now on Amazon and AudioExperience on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, Google Play, etc.
This is probably why it has taken nearly 10 years for Dash to finally become so frustrated with nonpayment that he saw no other recourse but to approach Daniels about his money in a public setting.
For his part, Daniels appeared to calmly agree with Dash and conceded that he was at fault for not paying the money back sooner.
For some observers, it appears as if Lee Daniels’ name is constantly being mentioned in some negativity. Remember when Oscar-winning actress Monique spilled the beans on how she believed Daniels, Tyler Perry and Oprah were blackballing her? While I never believed Oprah was actively trying to shun or sabotage her, I thought it plausible that her personal interactions with both Perry and Daniels, juxtaposed with the waning number of big budget films she appeared in, could have led her to that conclusion.
While much of social media is applauding Dame’s “gangster” for the manner that he approached Daniels, many of the same individuals called Monique everything but a child of God for being steadfast in her belief that she was being singled out for exclusion.
Was she too loud? Too black? Too insistent? Perhaps, but if the primary object of her disdain can ask for $2 million and avoiding paying it back, he can certainly blackball an actress he deems as undesirable simply by having one or two conversations. The Hollywood underground railroad of gossip will do the rest.
