Tyler Perry Responds To Spike Lee’s “Coonery” Criticism
Spike Lee has called Tyler Perry’s TBS sitcoms “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne,” “coonery and buffoonery.”
Perry responded that criticism in a Sunday interview on “60 Minutes.”
“You know, that pisses me off,” Perry tells Byron Pitts. “It really does. Because it’s so insulting. It’s attitudes like that that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist and that’s why there’s no material speaking to them. I would love to read that to my fan base.”
– Personally, I’m disappointed that Spike took his issues there like that instead of taking it directly to Tyler.
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Hmmm…I agree with your personal opinion. I think that should have been an off-media conversation between two colleagues. The problem is Spike would have to respect Tyler in order to consider him a colleague. Which is kind of sad.
I will say though, I didn’t really agree with Tyler’s response to Spike’s criticism. He spoke as if his fan base were made up of a throng of Madea’s and Mr. Brown’s. He is confusing SUPPORT with IDENTITY. I think that is where Spike was going with his statement, Tyler sometimes seems to speak exclusively to a extremely fictionalized version of one character type in the black diaspora in most of his movies. But that really may be what he knows so I can’t fault him completely.
I do think it’s not a completely fair assessment of his work though, he has done some wonderful things with Daddy’s Girls and Why Did I Get Married and even Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
its funny how the kettle is calling the pot, black! spikes movies hasnt always been in the uplifting of blacks. not all of us wak around with radios to our heads like radio raheem. not all woman “gotta have it”. call it what it is, PURE JEALOUSY that another black man has found just as much success in the movie industry. and instead of lifting a brother up as a Veteran in the Hollywood Movies game, spike chose to find anything wrong to try to bring a brother down cause hes a has been. Do you Tyler Perry because when GOD is blessing you as he is, the devil(spike) will always rear his UGLY head!!!!!
Professional jealousy at it’s worst. It makes Spike seem a bit bitchy.First, no movie or sitcom can take us back, thats a BS cry. Take us back to where? So since we are going back, let’s talk about Spikes movies……………Huh? She Gotta Have It?= SEX, Jungle Fever= SEX & Crack? You get my message.
Spike is acting like a broke hater, ask Tyler for a job!
I agree with the last 2 comments. I was just saying on another website forum that I have read all of Spike’s books. In every one of them I believe he criticized everyone who he happens to have a different artistic viewpoint of regarding their movies. And responding to the first comment, I don’t think Tyler is confusing SUPPORT with IDENTITY. Perry’s too smart to get confused on that simple question. He answered right on point in my opinion. I think people with common sense understand that, for example, Madea does have extreme qualities that no black grandma possesses, but on the other hand she has many qualities that many black grandmothers do possess. I have seen grandmas in my family like this and like the other characters portrayed in Perry’s movies. Tyler is a movie mogul and powerhouse with earth shattering box office receipts. These are things Spike has never really had. Tyler’s movies are always balanced with good, sound drama, so to nick pick and say bufoonery and coonery is just reaching. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s a duck. Spike’s words look and walk like jealousy to me.