Tyler Perry doesn't let “intellectual” critics of his films stop him from sharing stories about black communities.
“I know for a fact that what I’m doing is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing,” Perry said during a recent appearance on the “Baby, That’s Keke Palmer” podcast. “Because for everyone who criticizes me, I get a thousand emails from people saying, ‘This changed my life. Oh my God, you know me. Oh my God, you saw me. How did you know this about my life and my family?’ That’s what matters.”
Perry's latest drama, Divorce in the Black, starring Meagan Good and Corey Hardict, was widely panned by critics, even earning a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film currently holds a 75% audience rating.
According to Amazon's official logline, the film follows “Ava, a young banking professional who is devastated when her husband Dallas walks out on a marriage she was determined to fight for until fate intervenes, revealing Dallas' evil actions that destroyed their marriage and once ruined Ava's destiny to be loved by her true soulmate.”
Perry told host Palmer that he has learned to ignore criticism over the years, as his films are enjoyed by “a large portion of his fans” who are “disenfranchised.”
“Who can’t get in a Volvo and go to therapy on the weekends,” he continued. “So you have this arrogant nigger who looks down on everything, and then you have people like me, who work hard, who really know what it’s like, whose mothers were white childcare providers, who were maids, who were housekeepers… who were beauticians. Don’t belittle these people and say their stories don’t matter. Who are you to decide which black story is important or should be told? Get out of here with this crap.”
Listen to the full podcast episode below.
