For Discussion: Tyler Perry Calls Criticism Of His “White Show” Reverse Racism
This is getting repetitive, but Tyler Perry is on the defense again. This time it’s as he prepares for the return of his show “Too Close To Home” to TLC next week.
Just saw a commercial for a Tyler Perry TV show with an all white cast and I think I might be in a coma and 2016 has just been a long dream.
— Dan Scully (@DanScully) December 26, 2016
Reactions to the new show having a mostly white cast have ranged from bewilderment to outrage.
Tyler Perry is coming out with a damn near all white cast show soon. I guess he also felt the country needed healing
#wednesdaywisdom
— sirsmokealot (@playboystudG4L) December 7, 2016
tyler perry has a show with all white ppl ?? Wild ..
— m*ria (@naomicxmpbell) October 9, 2016
Hold up Tyler Perry got a show with a all white cast? What is life?!
— Ernest. (@plangeypants) September 2, 2016
Perry is going so far as to call it racism, in a recent interview:
“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 credits his experiences traveling and meeting people from different cultures for keeping him in perspective:
“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.”
He actually makes plenty of sense to us with this comment…
New temptations. New secrets. Get ready for the new season of @Tyler Perry’s #TooCloseToHome on January 4 at 10/9c on @TLC! pic.twitter.com/yDFhBZBrcP
— Too Close To Home (@tooclosetohome) December 29, 2016
The second half of the first season of Perry’s newest drama — “Too Close to Home” — returns to TLC on Jan. 4.
It’s the first scripted series for the network and for those unfamiliar it involves the story of a young woman forced to leave DC after a political scandal (she had an affair with the President of the United States). The show’s lead Anna heads home to the Alabama trailer park she grew up in.
Turns out that was familiar territory for Perry, who once lived in a similar community with relatives in Louisiana.
“I know that world very well,” said Perry. “The same stories I’m relating to and telling, it could be anyone black or white. I’m not trying to the shine a light on a certain stereotype or certain people in a trailer park. It’s my own experiences from having spent time and sleeping there.”
Does this help redeem TP at all or does he still deserve a “Bye Madea!” ?
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