BET has responded to reports that it’s pulling the plug on its flagship late night gabfest, The Mo’Nique Show….The oft-controversial network is choosing another term for the sudden move: “Production hiatus.”

Word that the Oscar-winning comedienne had been sent packing over at Black Entertainment Television first hit the curb when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Rodney Ho published the cancellation rumor in his Wednesday column.

“At about 1:30 p.m., I called Rodney Perry, who was Mo’Nique’s sidekick on the show. He said he was running into a meeting and didn’t answer my question. While I was at lunch over at the mall court, at 1:40 p.m. EST, he texted me: ‘I was told indefinite hiatus.’ That’s a euphemism for canceled…” Ho wrote. “This didn’t appear to be an issue of ratings. I didn’t have time to do an entire season’s check on ratings so I sampled four weeks in April, 2011 vs. April 2010. Ratings from April 5 to April 29, 2010 averaged 615,000 viewers a night. From April 4 to April 28, 2011, her show averaged 586,000. That’s only a five percent drop,” the columnist added.

It didn’t take long for BET to shoot back with a statement of its own:

“’The Mo’Nique Show’ will be on production hiatus beginning in the Fall,” network spokesperson Kobe Swanson says. “However, new episodes of the show will continue to air throughout the summer. Mo’Nique Hicks and ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ are important to the BET Networks family and we look forward to continuing our relationship with her.”

Are you sorry to see Mo go?