Tyler Perry Responds to Spike Lee's Characterization of His Films as "Coonery and Buffoonery"

Must we always air our dirty laundry in public? Well, Spike Lee picked a fight of sorts with Tyler Perry earlier this year and he responded during an interview on "60 Minutes." Personally, I like Spike Lee's work -- "Miracle at St. Anna," "Do the Right Thing," "School Daze" and "Jungle Fever." I do like some of Tyler Perry's work -- "Dairy of a Mad Black Woman" and "Meet the Browns." I have had enough of Madea and I am looking for some serious work from him and not just comedy. However, I don't think that Spike Lee should have thrown him under a bus, at least not by calling his work similar to "Amos and Andy" skits. There are many African Americans who find some of his characters -- Madea and Mr. Brown -- demeaning and harken back to a period in the African American experience that we need to move away from, but there are also many who love his work.

Tyler Perry said, during his appearance on "60 Minutes" he said he was “insulted” and “pissed off” by Spike Lee’s criticisms of Perry’s hit TV shows and movies. Lee recently called Perry characters such as Madea examples of “coonery” and “buffoonery.”“I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base,” Perry told "60 Minutes" correspondent Byron Pitts. “All these characters of mine are bait, bait to get people talking about God, love, family, and faith.”

Tyler Perry has an unbelievable gift for comic impersonations and making his audience laugh, but Madea and Mr. Brown are getting tired. Stuttering black men in colorful clothes feel really old -- a little like Amos n Andy. Surely, Tyler Perry can make us laugh with other characters than his usual bumbling black men. To his credit, maybe he has started to move away from these characters through a recent collaboration, "Precious" with daytime queen Oprah Winfrey.

As for Spike Lee, I could also make an argument that he tends cast lighter-skinned Black and/or Latina women as his black lead's love interests. Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with light skinned black women, but it seems that Spike Lee may have a problem with dark-skinned sisters. The reality is that using lighter skinned love interests only reinforces how the black community defines physical beauty and, in essence, socio-economic mobility. That's just as problematic as a bumbling black man like Mr. Brown.

These two men are bringing different things to the table. Tyler Perry has found a way to bring African Americans to the movie theaters, more than Spike Lee has. Spike Lee confronts racial discrimination in his movies and racial equality in Hollywood, still rarely examining his own regressive "color" politics. So, at the end of the day, I guess I'll take my chances with Tyler Perry and his business acumen, but I hope "Madea Goes to Jail" is the last of his movies to feature this big-breasted angry mammy. It's time to let her go. Really.

Spike Lee advises students at Pitt to focus attention on a job they love

I can really appreciate that Spike Lee is giving encouraging, yet realistic advice to students at the University of Pittsburgh. It's so important for young people to understand that "paying one's dues" is inevitable on the path to success. I also agree with Spike, and to add to his advice, doing what one loves makes it easier to pay those dues on the way to success:

"Film director Spike Lee, one of the few African-American filmmakers to achieve widespread success, prescribed a formula last night to college students who want to follow his example: Find a trade they love, hone their skills and work hard even when they don't feel like it.

'Do not believe this thing called overnight success -- there is no such thing,' he told a throng inside the David Lawrence Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus last night. 'Anyone who's a success had to bust their ass for it. That means when you're tired, when you're grumpy, when you're sick, you have to do more.'" Source: The Post-Gazette

I recently had a conversation with my Dad about Spike Lee, which led to a very interesting discussion about "eating one's vegetables." When asked to give advice to people, Spike is known to tell people to eat their vegetables.

Although this advice is so simple, it can be hard to swallow. The fact of the matter is that most people want to eat cake, not vegetables. And it's the desire to eat this proverbial cake, and the pursuit thereof that actually keeps them from attaining their goals.

So I agree with Spike Lee, and my advice to you is to eat your vegetables!

Robert Redding Jr. Takes Offense to Blacks Coming Up Empty-Handed at the 81st Oscar Awards

Photo: Viola Davis, Oscar Nominee

I am all for equality and justice for all, but it seems that a sense of entitlement among my fellow African Americans is rearing its head again, especially since President Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States. Now Robert "Rob" Redding Jr, President of Redding News Review and Redding Communications Inc., has a big problem with blacks coming up empty-handed at the recent Oscar Awards. Yep, entitlement rearing its head once again.

Blacks were snubbed in major categories at last night's 81st Academy Awards. Although two blacks were nominated to win on Hollywood's big night in the Best Supporting Actress category - Viola Davis of "Doubt" and Taraji P. Henson of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - neither won an Oscar. Penelope Cruz beat both Henson and Davis to become the first Spanish-born actress to win an Oscar for her role in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Blacks were not nominated for best actor, actress, director, or movie.

What's more, "Trouble the Water," a film made and produced by blacks during the Hurricane Katrina, also failed to win in the Best Documentary Feature category "Man on Wire," a movie about tightrope walking won. Source: Redding News Review.

Come on people, there are more important things for us to worry about than to bicker about blacks coming up empty-handed at the Oscar Awards. There are real racist attacks being made against blacks everyday in this country, including the low blow the New York Post and Sean Delonas took against President Obama, for us to get in the muck over the Oscar Awards. Mr. Redding, you provide a valuable service, one that I have used to find news stories for my blog, but I am really disappointed that you engage in this spirit of entitlement that has dogged so many blacks in this country. Didn't Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morgan Freeman, among others win big at the Oscars? This is much ado about nothing.

Robert Redding Jr. Takes Offense to Blacks Coming Up Empty-Handed at the 81st Oscar Awards

Photo: Viola Davis, Oscar Nominee

I am all for equality and justice for all, but it seems that a sense of entitlement among my fellow African Americans is rearing its head again, especially since President Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States. Now Robert "Rob" Redding Jr, President of Redding News Review and Redding Communications Inc., has a big problem with blacks coming up empty-handed at the recent Oscar Awards. Yep, entitlement rearing its head once again.

Blacks were snubbed in major categories at last night's 81st Academy Awards. Although two blacks were nominated to win on Hollywood's big night in the Best Supporting Actress category - Viola Davis of "Doubt" and Taraji P. Henson of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - neither won an Oscar. Penelope Cruz beat both Henson and Davis to become the first Spanish-born actress to win an Oscar for her role in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Blacks were not nominated for best actor, actress, director, or movie.

What's more, "Trouble the Water," a film made and produced by blacks during the Hurricane Katrina, also failed to win in the Best Documentary Feature category "Man on Wire," a movie about tightrope walking won. Source: Redding News Review.

Come on people, there are more important things for us to worry about than to bicker about blacks coming up empty-handed at the Oscar Awards. There are real racist attacks being made against blacks everyday in this country, including the low blow the New York Post and Sean Delonas took against President Obama, for us to get in the muck over the Oscar Awards. Mr. Redding, you provide a valuable service, one that I have used to find news stories for my blog, but I am really disappointed that you engage in this spirit of entitlement that has dogged so many blacks in this country. Didn't Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morgan Freeman, among others win big at the Oscars? This is much ado about nothing.