Tyler Perry Responds To Spike Lee’s Past Criticism Of Madea
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Tyler Perry has offered a new response to Spike Lee’s past criticism of his famous character, Madea.
As a guest on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, the filmmaker, 53, discussed the titular character being called “coonery buffoonery” in 2009 by Lee.
More from VIBE.com
Tyler Perry Once Paid Cicely Tyson $1 Million For One Day Of Work
Tyler Perry's First Screenplay 'A Jazzman's Blues' To Premiere On Netflix
“There’s a certain part of our society, especially Black people in the culture that…they look down on certain things within the culture. For me, I love the movies that I’ve done because they are the people that I grew up with that I represent,” Perry explained.
“So when someone says, you’re harkening back to a point in our life that we don’t want to talk about or we don’t want the world to see…you’re dismissing the stories of millions and millions of Black people and that’s why I think it’s been so successful because it resonates with a lot of us who know these women, and these experiences, and Uncle Joe, and so forth.”
Tyler Perry To Receive Honorary AARP Purpose Prize Award
Perry continued to discuss the relationship between himself and Lee, comparing their past riff to two figures of the historical Harlem Renaissance that also didn’t see eye-to-eye on how Black people should be portrayed to the masses.
“It goes back to the Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston,” said the award-winning creator.
“This is a conversation that has been going on long before Spike Lee and Tyler Perry. It is what it is. What is important to me is that I’m honoring the people that came up and taught and made me who I am. Their stories deserve to be told too.”
Watch the full clip of Tyler Perry in conversation on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace via TMZ below.
