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.

Tyler Perry Takes Stand In Copyright Lawsuit over "Dairy of Mad Black Woman" Brought by Donna West

There is drama with actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry, stemming from "The Diary of a Mad Black Woman." Donna West filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Perry. He took the stand yesterday and said that he did not steal material from a woman's play for his blockbuster movie. Madea needs to show up at the trial. She would fix the problem once and for all.

Donna West is suing Perry in federal court, arguing that he lifted material from a script she wrote titled "Fantasy of a Black Woman," which was based primarily on her own experiences. She wants a jury to award her family all the profits made from Perry's 2005 film, which earned some $50 million.

Perry insisted that his screenplay is an original work, but under questioning by West's attorney, said he did not know whether anyone actually saw him write the script, The Marshall News Messenger reported for its Thursday editions. Perry's attorney said his client doesn't have an original copy of his script because he sends all his work to the Library of Congress for a copyright. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

There are always haters popping up, but if this woman's work was lifted, then Perry needs to do the right thing and give her what she is due.

West's attorney, Aubrey "Nick" Pittman, suggested that Perry copied ideas from other movies and incorporated them into his box office hit. He asked Perry whether he had taken concepts from "Mrs. Doubtfire," "The Color Purple," "An Officer and a Gentleman" and Martin Lawrence's role in "Big Momma's House.""I never stole anything from anybody — never," Perry said, locking his eyes with the jury.

The jurors watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West's play which was performed in 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center. Considering Tyler Perry's rags to riches story, I am inclined to believe he did the right thing and did not infringe on this woman's story, but who knows? We'll see what the outcome will be when they have reached a verdict in the case.

Tyler Perry Takes Stand In Copyright Lawsuit over "Dairy of Mad Black Woman" Brought by Donna West

There is drama with actor-screenwriter Tyler Perry, stemming from "The Diary of a Mad Black Woman." Donna West filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Perry. He took the stand yesterday and said that he did not steal material from a woman's play for his blockbuster movie. Madea needs to show up at the trial. She would fix the problem once and for all.

Donna West is suing Perry in federal court, arguing that he lifted material from a script she wrote titled "Fantasy of a Black Woman," which was based primarily on her own experiences. She wants a jury to award her family all the profits made from Perry's 2005 film, which earned some $50 million.

Perry insisted that his screenplay is an original work, but under questioning by West's attorney, said he did not know whether anyone actually saw him write the script, The Marshall News Messenger reported for its Thursday editions. Perry's attorney said his client doesn't have an original copy of his script because he sends all his work to the Library of Congress for a copyright. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

There are always haters popping up, but if this woman's work was lifted, then Perry needs to do the right thing and give her what she is due.

West's attorney, Aubrey "Nick" Pittman, suggested that Perry copied ideas from other movies and incorporated them into his box office hit. He asked Perry whether he had taken concepts from "Mrs. Doubtfire," "The Color Purple," "An Officer and a Gentleman" and Martin Lawrence's role in "Big Momma's House.""I never stole anything from anybody — never," Perry said, locking his eyes with the jury.

The jurors watched the film and listened to a reading of the script from West's play which was performed in 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center. Considering Tyler Perry's rags to riches story, I am inclined to believe he did the right thing and did not infringe on this woman's story, but who knows? We'll see what the outcome will be when they have reached a verdict in the case.