"The moment you need to call your critics names is the moment you start proving that they're probably right."
Tyler Perry is a legendary filmmaker and playwright, from his first play, I Can Do Bad All by Myself (1999), to all his subsequent stage plays, dozens of film adaptations, original movies, and projects across film and television.
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If he isn't known for his portrayal of the gun-toting grandma Madea, then he's celebrated for his groundbreaking work in, particularly, Black cinema, and his 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios, one of the largest film studios in the nation.
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However, his films have received a lot of criticism for their negative or offensive portrayals of Black people, and Tyler had words (probably not the best ones) for those naysayers.
Criticism of his work even reached pop culture. Infamously, the episode "Pause" of the third season of The Boondocks had a character named Winston Jerome, who was a controversial playwright and director, who was a parody of Tyler and Madea.
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The episode "Work Ethic!" of the fourth season of Atlanta featured Chocolate Land, a TV studio run by a mysterious character named Mr. Chocolate, who exploits negative tropes for his TV shows.
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On an episode of the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, Tyler said, “For everyone who is a critic, I have thousands of — used to be — emails from people saying: ‘This changed my life. Oh, my God, you know me. Oh, my God, you saw me. How did you know this about my life and my family?’ So that is what is important.”
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“If you let somebody talk you out of a place that God has put you in, you are going to find yourself in hell.”
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“We’re talking [about] a large portion of my fans who are disenfranchised, who cannot get in the Volvo and go to therapy on the weekend,” Tyler said. “So you’ve got this highbrow Negro who is all up in the air with his nose up looking at everything, and then you’ve got people like where I come from, and me, who are grinders, who really know what it’s like, whose mothers were caregivers for white kids, and were maids and housekeepers.”
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He continued, “Don’t discount these people and say that their stories don’t matter. Who are you to be able to say which Black story is important or should be told? Get out of here with that bullsh*t.”
Tyler's comments, especially the "highbrow" statement from the interview, went viral, and people were unhappy about it. Here are some of the reactions:
1.
— Write Life (@TheQueenMuse1) July 24, 2024We’re not high brow.
These stories DO matter… and have been centered in the “24 feature films, 20 stage plays, and 17 TV shows” he’s written ALONE.
We’re saying grow, expand, share your platform and resources, ELEVATE BLACK WRITERS OTHER THAN YOURSELF 🤷🏽♀️😮💨
2.
Tyler Perry’s movies are more than just “not for everyone”. He’s more than just “lazy”. He’s a purveyor of mysogynoir and antiblack stereotypes. And I’m never going to look away in the name of “he hires Black people”.
— MrsBundrige (@MrsBundrige) July 25, 2024
3.
He act like this because ya'll keep watching his movies no matter how terrible they are.
— Tequila Mockingbird 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩 (@iamjadebrieanne) July 24, 2024
4.
The moment you need to call your critics names is the moment you start proving that they're probably right.
— Self Generated (@SelfGenPodcast) July 24, 2024
5.
Dear Tyler: You are not above critique!
— Alexander Boyd (@iamjuneous) July 24, 2024
6.
But Tyler has told that story endlessly while NOT accepting that criticisms are not condemnations but rather course corrections
— TrueWordsRSpoken (@TruWordsRSpoken) July 24, 2024
7.
Tyler Perry thinks he’s doing the work of Zora Neale Hurston, talking about some high brow negros…I’m so weak 😭
— fragrance and foolishness (@Brieyonce) July 24, 2024
8.
Black people do deserve to have our stories told. But Tyler Perry is not a storyteller. He is a man who hates black women and continues to make movies where he punishes black women for choosing happiness over suffering. He believes black women is synonymous with pain. https://t.co/RmlJB7G8KQ
— Feminist Witch 🇵🇸🇵🇸 🌙 (@DonCorleANN) July 25, 2024
9.
It’s not that their story doesn’t matter. We are just tired of seeing the same story being told with different characters in similar films. Let it sink in
— DJ Skillz (@RnBMaster) July 24, 2024
10.
I actually find it quite insulting that Tyler Perry thinks that black stories are only worth 5 days of shooting and deserving of a sole writer/director/producer. https://t.co/Az3MvnwalD
— Globethotter 🌍 (@BrianMcLight) July 24, 2024
11.
His movies are Anti-Black Male. It sounds like he’s trying to reframe criticism he gets and redirect it.
— Nas (@nasescobar316) July 24, 2024
12.
— CRAB CAKES AND FRIES?! (@angryblkhoemo) July 25, 2024I stopped arguing about Tyler Perry's work when I became willing to acknowledge and accept that there is an audience that happily eats up every bit of the slop he serves them.
I can't speak for those people, so I just leave them to enjoy the bullsh*t...way over there somewhere. pic.twitter.com/U3vTsK39Jg
13.
Fam directed a film where the pastor totally disrespected the family at a funeral, the mother then STRIPPED in the church, then they picked the body up OUT the basket and carried it home like he was Spider-Man …what are we doing!? lol
— Cass Wavey (@cass_wavey) July 24, 2024
14.
Me, a highbrow negro, looking down on Tyler Perry plots pic.twitter.com/eA96VCwcdw
— USAK’S BODYGUARD 𓆩♰𓆪 알잖아요 (@playboysoshi) July 25, 2024
Netflix / Twitter: @playboysoshi
15.
Just hire other Black writers, my guy. Pass the torch… that’s all we’re saying
— NOIVAS. (@NOIVASwright) July 24, 2024
