Tyler Perry

== Reception ==
=== Criticism ===
Tyler Perry's films have come under intense scrutiny with many scrutinizers claiming his films traffic in offensive and negative [[African-American]] stereotypes. Author Donald Bogle stated in an interview with ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', "Madea does have connections to the old mammy type. She’s mammy-like. If a white director put out this product, the black audience would be appalled."<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://ew.com/article/2009/03/17/madea-bad-black-america/|title= 'Madea': Bad for black America?|magazine= Entertainment Weekly|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref>

In an open letter to Perry on [[National Public Radio]], journalist [[Jamilah Lemieux]], while thanking Perry for "giving black folks jobs in front of and behind the camera," also criticized his shows ''[[Meet the Browns (TV series)|Meet the Browns]]'' and ''[[House of Payne]]''. In her letter, she stated that "both your shows are marked by old stereotypes of buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." While she noted his work for its humor and "positive messages of self-worth, love and respect," she later expressed frustration that African-Americans "have been fed the same images of ourselves over and over and over because they sell."<ref name="An Open Letter to Tyler Perry">{{cite news|title=An Open Letter to Tyler Perry|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112760404|date=September 11, 2009|access-date=March 29, 2013|newspaper=National Public Radio}}</ref>

Lemieux dismissed his famous Madea character, claiming that "Through her, the country has laughed at one of the most important members of the black community: Mother Dear, the beloved matriarch. ... Our mothers and grandmothers deserve much more than that." While she expressed appreciation toward Perry for dismissing critics' negative comments, Lemieux claimed that "many black folks have expressed some of the very same attitudes about your work that white critics have," and urged him to "stop dismissing the critics as haters and realize that black people need new stories and new storytellers."<ref name="An Open Letter to Tyler Perry"/>

=== Spike Lee comments ===
Despite praising Perry in 2006, director [[Spike Lee]] criticized his work in 2009, stating "Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is 'coonery buffoonery'" and highlighted the work and content of [[John Singleton]] as well as his own work including ''[[Miracle at St. Anna]]'' (2008), which depicts the heroism of African American soldiers known as the [[Buffalo Soldier]]s during World War II.<ref name="Our World">{{cite video|title=Our World with Black Enterprise |date=May 31, 2009 |url=http://www.blackenterprise.com/tv-video/our-world/full-episode-our-world-with-black-enterprise-tv-video/2009/05/30/our-world-episode-73/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106194319/http://www.blackenterprise.com/tv-video/our-world/full-episode-our-world-with-black-enterprise-tv-video/2009/05/30/our-world-episode-73 |archive-date=January 6, 2010 }}</ref> When asked if Perry's success among black audiences was a result of just giving black America what they wanted, Lee responded, "the imaging is troubling."

In October 2009, during a ''[[60 Minutes]]'' interview, Perry was read a quote of [[Spike Lee]]'s comments about his work and responded, "I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base. ... That pisses me off. It is so insulting. It's attitudes like that that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist, and that is why there is no material speaking to them, speaking to us." Perry also stated that "all these characters are bait&nbsp;– disarming, charming, make-you-laugh bait. I can slap Madea on something and talk about God, love, faith, forgiveness, family, any of those."<ref>{{cite news|title=60 Minutes: Tyler Perry's Amazing Journey to the Top|date=October 25, 2009|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/22/60minutes/main5410095.shtml |work=CBS News}}</ref> In an interview with Hip Hollywood, Perry responded to Spike Lee's comments by telling him to "go to hell."<ref>{{cite news|title=Tyler Perry Tells Spike Lee to "Go To Hell!"|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOnY6cx-nBI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/YOnY6cx-nBI |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|date=April 20, 2011|access-date=March 29, 2013|newspaper=Hip Hollywood}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== ''The Boondocks'' and ''Atlanta'' ===
Perry was spoofed in ''[[The Boondocks (2005 TV series)|The Boondocks]]'' episode: "[[Pause (The Boondocks)|Pause]]". The character Winston Jerome is a parody Perry. In the episode Jerome's character is Ma Dukes, whom he portrays by [[crossdressing]], similar to Perry's Madea.<ref name = braxton>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-boondocks-20100622,0,7842614.story|title= Aaron McGruder's Boondocks' lampoons Tyler Perry|website= [[The Los Angeles Times]]|date= June 22, 2010|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref> Greg Braxton of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' cited "Pause" as one of the sharpest public criticisms of Perry. The episode reportedly angered Perry who threatened to re-evaluate his relationship with [[Turner Broadcasting]] who had two series on the network [[TBS (U.S. TV channel)|TBS]] at the time, ''[[Tyler Perry's House of Payne]]'' and ''[[Meet the Browns (TV series)|Meet the Browns]]''. The episode was pulled from circulation.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.looper.com/224886/the-untold-truth-of-the-boondocks/|title= The Untold Truth Of The Boondocks|website= Looper|date= July 9, 2020|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref>

[[Donald Glover]] reportedly took aim at Perry in the [[FX (TV channel)|FX]] series ''[[Atlanta (TV series)|Atlanta]]''. The episode title "[[Work Ethic!]]" comes from a tweet in which Perry posted a video of all the scripts he wrote for that season with the caption "WORK ETHIC! Come on. Let's go get 2020!". In the episode a woman and her daughter arrive at a TV studio run by a private and mysterious person known as "Mr. Chocolate". The mother is soon in fear of her daughter being exploited by Mr. Chocolate. Viewers and critics quickly deduced that the episode was satirizing Perry and the way in which he runs his studios in Atlanta.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.avclub.com/atlanta-review-season-4-episode-5-work-ethic-1849617219|title= Van gets pulled into show business in a biting Atlanta|website= AV Club|date= October 7, 2022|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/atlanta-recap-work-ethic-season-4-episode-5-1234603652/|title= 'Atlanta' Recap: Donald Glover Takes Aim at Tyler Perry|website= [[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]|date= October 7, 2022|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref> Ile-Ife Okantah of ''[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]'' wrote their review, "Like Perry’s own 330-acre studio in Atlanta, Mr. Chocolate Studios is a sprawling lot with multiple soundstages and office spaces" and added "Atlanta and many critics of Perry ask two questions of us: Do we as Black people have to support anything and everything that’s Black? And does Perry’s shallow depiction of us do more harm than good?".<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.vulture.com/article/atlanta-recap-season-4-episode-5-work-ethic.html|title= Atlanta Recap: Mr. Chocolate and the Black Movie Factory|website= Vulture|date= October 6, 2022|accessdate= July 20, 2023}}</ref>

=== Lack of writers rooms ===
On January 6, 2020, Perry posted a video on [[Instagram]] in which he revealed that he doesn't use a writers room for his films and TV shows and prefers to write his work himself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2020/01/tyler-perry-writes-all-of-his-own-shows-1202822941/|title=Tyler Perry Says He Writes All Of His Shows: "I Have No Writers Room"|last1=Bennett|first1=Anita|date=January 7, 2020|website=Deadline|language=en|access-date=January 23, 2020}}</ref> Perry received criticism from several outlets and figures in entertainment for denying opportunities to up-and-coming black writers. Later that month, Perry responded in an interview by stating that he had experienced issues when working with both WGA writers and nonunion writers. He claims that the WGA writers would submit "scripts that would need rewrites in order to get paid multiple times." He also said that nonunion writers struggled to meet his standards of quality and that he "was unhappy with every single script they wrote" because "they were not speaking to the voice."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2020/01/tyler-perry-addresses-writers-room-controversy|title=Tyler Perry on Why He Doesn't Have a Writers' Room: 'My Audience Wants My Voice'|website=Complex|language=en|access-date=January 23, 2020}}</ref>

=== Support for Tyler Perry ===
[[Goldie Taylor]], of [[The Grio]] and [[MSNBC]], stated in an April 21, 2011 [[National Public Radio|NPR]] ''[[All Things Considered]]'' interview regarding Perry's target audience: "I don't think Tyler Perry is talking to [[Touré (journalist)|Touré]]. I don't think he's talking to me, but I know that he's speaking directly to my mother, my sister, my cousins and meeting them at their point of need, and that's what art and filmmaking is about."<ref name="npr.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/21/135610190/war-of-words-tyler-perry-vs-spike-lee?ps=rs |title=''All Things Considered'' "War of Words: Tyler Perry Vs. Spike Lee"|publisher=NPR |date=April 21, 2011 |access-date=November 13, 2011}}</ref> 

In his ''[[HuffPost|Huffington Post]]'' editorial, sociologist Shayne Lee lists Perry among the pantheon of today's most innovative filmmakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tyler-perrys-movie-milest_b_6604704|title=Tyler Perry's Movie Milestone|work=The Huffington Post|date=February 4, 2015|access-date=January 3, 2023}}</ref>