First it was Tyler Perry in mid-2016, then it was Lee Daniels in late-2016…and now it’s Tyler Perry again at the very end of 2016. Two different directors, same backlash yet AGAIN- they’re both being called coons, sell-outs and every other name under the sun that applies to an African American producer/director creating a show that mostly gives opportunity to a predominately White cast.
When Tyler’s TLC show, “Too Close To Home,” first aired a few months ago and people found out about the mostly White cast, the backlash was off the charts. But then as the show came to the end of the first half of the 1st season, some people had a change of heart. But others have remained the same as the second half is about to kick off on January 4th.
Tyler Perry is never one to run from backlash though, so here’s what he recently told Associated Press about the backlash:
Via Yahoo: “That’s totally reverse racism, because it was coming from African-American people,” said Perry, speaking with The Associated Press in his office at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.
“I don’t know if it was because they thought I should only be giving jobs to Black people. Well, I think that’s ridiculous. If you look at the hundreds of Black people I’ve given jobs to and even the ones I’ve made millionaires, people of color, I just think it’s unfair.”
Perry also said that his view of the world and race relations expanded greatly after he was able to travel the world and see humanity in a different light:
“I’m just finding out more as I travel the country and world, the more I meet people, we’re all the same,” he said. “We all got the same dramas. So I’m not seeing color as much as I did anymore in the sense of our stories. Our stories are so similar.”
What do y’all think? Should Perry concentrate on continuing to give minority actors a shot, being that he’s been damn near like a’ savior’ for mainstream Black films for the past few years? Or should folks cut him some slack after all he’s done within Black entertainment to push the genre forward?
