Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Capt. Jolyon Bundrige says there were no reports of injuries from the fire that started before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Officials said in a news release it was extinguished about an hour later.

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He says the cause of the fire and the amount of damage to the complex was not immediately known

A spokesman for Tyler Perry did not immediately comment Tuesday evening. The studio’s website says the complex includes a 200,000-square-foot studio, five sound stages and a 400-seat theater in southwest Atlanta.

In March, pop star Cee Lo performed for donors at a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the studios.

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Tyler Perry: Police Racially Profiled Me

Perry says he often looks in his rearview mirror to make sure he is not being followed. It is a tactic he says his security team encourages him to practice while driving. On the day in which his encounter with police occurred, he says on his Facebook page that he made a left turn from the right lane as he entered an intersection. It was at the point he says he was pulled over by two police officers.

Here is a snippet of Perry’s account on the incident, according to his April 1st message on Facebook:

As I got to an intersection, I made a left turn from the right lane and was pulled over by two police officers. I pulled the car over and put it in park. Then, I let the window down and sat in the car waiting for the officer. The officer came up to the driver’s door and said that I made an illegal turn. I said, “I signaled to get into the turning lane, then made the turn because I have to be sure I’m not being followed.” He said, “why do you think someone would be following you?”

Before I could answer him, I heard a hard banging coming from the passenger window. I had never been in this position before so I asked the officer who was at my window what was going on and why is someone banging on the window like that. He said, “let your window down, let your window down. Your windows are tinted.” As I let down the passenger window, there was another officer standing on the passenger side of the car. He said, “what is wrong with you?” The other officer said to him, “he thinks he’s being followed.” Then, the second officer said, “why do you think someone is following you? What is wrong with you?”

Before I could answer the officer on the passenger side, the one on the driver’s side had reached into the car and started pulling on the switch that turns the car on and off, saying, “put your foot on the brake, put your foot on the brake!” I was so confused as to what he was doing, or what he thought he was doing. It looked like he was trying to pull the switch out of the dashboard. I finally realized that he thought that switch was the key, so I told him that it wasn’t the key he was grabbing. I reached down into the cup holder to get the key, not realizing that the key had a black leather strap on it. As I grabbed it they both tensed up and I dropped it as I heard my mother’s voice from when I was a little boy.

According to TMZ, Perry admits that he made an illegal turn. But Perry claims he was racially profiled by the officers who he reportedly claims were “hostile” towards him. Perry was not issued a ticket and was sent on his way.

This is where the racial profiling claim gets a little gray. In an interview with Atlanta television station “My Fox Atlanta,” TMZ’s Harvey Levin asks why Perry wasn’t issued a ticket and questions the racial profiling claim. So, if Perry did in fact make an illegal turn that prompted the officers to stop him, is Perry’s racial profiling claim legitimate? Moreover, Perry’s car windows were tinted, so one has to question whether or not the officers knew Perry was black when he was pulled over.

Much of Perry’s Facebook post focuses on his interaction with the officers, not on why he was stopped.

TMZ reports that Malik Kadeem watched the whole incident and he says “the officers were ‘giving [Tyler] a hard time’ during the stop.” Video of TMZ’s interview with Kadeem is below:

The Atlanta Police Department are investigating the incident.

Given the information we have so far, was it possible that Tyler Perry racially harassed and not racially profiled? Stay tuned to NewsOne for more on this developing story.

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It’s Too Early for Obama to Be So Mean

Nobody commands the nexus of stardom and politics more than President Barack Obama. Mocked by opponents during his 2008 campaign for being a celebrity himself, he draws from a broad assortment of personalities – Hollywood liberals, NBA stars and more.

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Friday offered a case in point. Obama raised money in film producer Tyler Perry’s sprawling southwest Atlanta studio at a gala event featuring a performance by pop star Cee Lo Green. Then he spoke to those in a more elite group, including Oprah Winfrey, at Perry’s 30,000-square-foot French provincial mansion along the Chattahoochee River.

His just-released campaign biopic is narrated by actor Tom Hanks. On Thursday, a White House visit by Obama backer and Oscar winner George Clooney to meet with the president over conditions in Sudan drew a gaggle of press coverage.

Obama, though, has no monopoly on big names.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has campaigned with Jeff Foxworthy, the genial comedian with a repertoire of redneck jokes, convinced rocker-rapper Kid Rock to perform at a campaign rally and won supportive words from KISS lead singer Gene Simmons.

Newt Gingrich has action film star Chuck Norris in his corner. Rick Santorum has been endorsed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, and Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, stars of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” have made campaign appearances with him. Ron Paul has an eclectic list of shout outs from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Oliver Stone, Juliette Lewis, Vince Vaughn, Joe Rogan, and Jesse Ventura.

Such proximity to stardom can reap big benefits for a politician. Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who’s had his brush with the stars working for Al Gore and Bill Clinton, says personalities help alter the typical, antiseptic look of a political event.

“These celebrities, one of the reasons they are celebrities, is they have a unique ability to connect with people,” he said. “You’re using them as a bridge to connect with their fans and their audiences.”

Or as Obama neatly summed it up, when he thanked Winfrey on Friday at Perry’s home: “Just like books and skin cream, when Oprah decides she likes you, then other people like you, too.”

For Obama, whose campaign so far has focused primarily on fundraising, celebrities such as Clooney, Will Smith, Magic Johnson and Antonio Banderas help attract the big-dollar givers. First lady Michelle Obama was fundraising Monday in New York with actor Robert De Niro at a TriBeCa Italian restaurant.

On Friday, Obama was on a furious fundraising pace, hitting five events in two cities in one day and raising at least $4.8 million. At day’s end, Obama will have participated in 108 fundraisers since last April when he filed for re-election last April with the Federal Election Commission. During the same period in 2004, President George W. Bush had attended 54 such events, according to CBS News’ Mark Knoller, the unofficial but authoritative keeper of such statistics in the White House press corps.

Last month in Los Angeles, Obama had a star-studded evening – a performance by Grammy-winning rock band Foo Fighters for about 1,000 supporters followed by a more intimate dinner featuring Clooney and actor Jim Belushi.

Friday’s activities in Atlanta are similar. Cee Lo opened for Obama at Tyler Perry Studios – tickets ranged from $500 for general admission to $2,500 and $10,000 for VIP. Then he was off to a $35,800 per person dinner at Perry’s house, where about 40 guests awaited him.

Perry, introducing Obama to a predominantly African-American audience, said seeing the presidential motorcade drive through southwest Atlanta offered “a glimpse of what destiny looks like.”

To which Obama said: “There’s something about America where somebody from my background can do what I’m doing and someone from Tyler’s background can do what he’s doing.”

Republicans, in the midst of their primary contests, have turned to celebrities for validation with voters.

Norris recorded robocalls for Gingrich before last week’s primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. Norris, active in Republican politics for many years, endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.

Santorum, who has scooped up endorsements from sports figures, has also tapped into a well-known band of reality TV stars. The Duggar family has fanned out across the country during the primary season to vouch for the former Pennsylvania senator. Josh Duggar, the oldest of 19 children, made the rounds Friday at a central Missouri rally for Santorum after previously doing the same in Iowa, Oklahoma, Georgia and many places in between.

“Our family is like the epitome of conservative values,” Duggar said. “People connect to us in that way.”

The entire family planned to assemble Saturday in Illinois to give Santorum a push ahead of that state’s primary.

Some celebrities play down their onstage personas when traveling with candidates. Last Monday, Foxworthy, the Southern comedian, skipped the jokes when he campaigned with Romney in Mobile, Ala., telling audiences he had never bothered with politics before.

But it was Romney who riffed on Foxworthy’s TV quiz show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” Obama is clearly smarter than an elementary school pupil, Romney said, but “this president has done almost everything wrong.”

Stars, Lehane says, are a net benefit. But they can be loose cannons; they don’t always subscribe or adhere to the campaign talking points. Lehane recalls Cher attracting a group of reporters at a campaign event for Gore in the fall of 2000 where she was advocating views about the Middle East at odds with the Gore campaign ticket.

“You always have to be a little bit careful when you’re dealing with a celebrity,” Lehane said., “First of all, they can be unscripted. Stuff that they can say and typically do that works in their space sometimes doesn’t translate when the political prism is put over it. Sometimes you end up having to disassociate yourself form other aspects of that celebrity’s life.”

Consider Cee Lo, the pop star who performed for 1,000 donors Friday at Tyler Perry Studios. Cee Lo has an expletive-filled hit song titled with an expletive that translates, in the cleaned up version, to “Forget You.” Not exactly Obama’s appeal for hope, or civility or of perseverance.

Asked about any incongruity between performer song and presidential message, White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama: “I know he’s fan. I don’t know about specific songs.”

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Part II

I had no idea who Tyler Perry was when I first saw him perform in his stage play “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” at the Fox Theater in Detroit 11 years ago. A friend of mine had some extra tickets and invited me to see this tall Black man dress up as a sassy pistol-packing grandma named “Madea.”

“It’s really good,” my friend told me. “You gotta come see it.”

With nothing to do that night, I reluctantly said, Yes, but my expectations were rather low. Neither Eddie Murphy’s “Nutty Professor” nor Martin Lawrence’s “Big Mama’s House” tickled my fancy, so I was not expecting much nourishment from seeing another brotha dramatize our already hyper-stereotyped Black women.

But, quite surprisingly, the play’s pronounced Christian themes and “I-can-do-all-things-through-Christ” narrative evoked the worst memories of my teenage battles of low self-esteem and bouts with an emotionally and physically abusive relative. More importantly, the play made me believe I could actually heal inside and share my newfound joy, unashamedly, with the rest of the world.

When Perry walked out onstage dressed in fresh Air Force Ones, jeans, and a well-fitted print sweater, the shoulder-to-shoulder packed audience erupted in thunderous applause. And so did I.

“Hollywood doesn’t know who you are and doesn’t care to know you,” he said. “Thank you so much for coming out to support this play and I have much more in store for you.” He spoke several minutes more before thanking us again and leaving the stage with his small yet committed cast of Black actors and actresses.

I bet no one in the audience thought that Perry would go on to turn that gospel-infused stage drama into a multimillion-dollar media empire. That succes was to go to the highly educated John Singletons and Spike Lees of the world — not Perry, a high school dropout without a single academic credit from a fancy film school in L.A. or New York.

(He did eventually earn his GED.)

Somehow Perry, who spent time living in his car while trying to transfer his notebook-written script to a stage, found his own audience, cultivated it, and made films that drew them into theaters nationwide by the millions. Unlike many Black directors before him, Perry didn’t look to Hollywood for approval. He sought and earned the support of a particular segment of the African-American community that affords him the independence to film and finance his own films in Atlanta, however he wishes, without needing a single dime from an L.A. studio.

Unlike Spike Lee, Perry’s sharpest critic (and hater), he didn’t waste time “fighting the power.” He sought the support of his own people and became a power broker instead.

Tyler Perry doesn’t try and cast his films with highly paid actors and actresses he cannot afford to pay. He hires great talent and keeps them working. His directorial taste is indeed an acquired one, but as one critic says, “[His films] are a force of nature.”

And I am certainly not suggesting that we should support Perry just because he is Black. You do not have to like his films. (I mean, not every white person likes Quentin Tarantino.)

Still, critics shouldn’t denigrate his work just because it doesn’t reflect Afro-centric renditions of Shakespeare, and they shouldn’t chalk up his success to “the white man has anointed him the Negro of Hollywood because he creates films that make Blacks look like buffoons.”

Remember, the brotha is based in Georgia.

What these critics fail to consider is that it is Perry that brings Black audiences to the box office. He does not ask White executives in California to do that for him. But even as Perry racks in strong box office numbers and continues to maintain a devoted fan base, his films are criticized for having weak character development, being poorly written, and lacking intellectual depth.

For many people, Perry will never be good enough. But Perry doesn’t care about many people. He cares about a particular segment of his people. In turn, they love and support him unconditionally.

Rather than critiquing his films and wondering, “Why does Perry do so well making these “crappy movies,’” you should be asking him, “How do I get millions of people to support my work just like they support your work?”

It is the distinction in these two questions that determines whether you are a business man or simply jealous. Or more accurately, a hater. Many people commented in my Spike Lee article that Perry’s critics are not haters. Perhaps, but if you are still confused, let me break it down for you:

Objective critic: “I do not like the way Black women are often depicted as down-trodden sistas struggling to get over herself to find a good, educated Black man who actually likes sistas. There needs to be more intellectual development in his female characters.”

Fair enough.

Hater: “I made a film about dignified African Americans and Black folks didn’t come see it, but they go see Tyler Perry.”

See the difference?

Perry may never be considered a candidate for an Oscar or Golden Globe. Most successful directors aren’t, and to be honest, I do not think Perry really cares. I am sure he would be pleased if his work one day earns one of those golden statuettes, but you don’t see him crying or cussing to high heaven about it, do you?

When reporters asked Perry why he didn’t go the Hollywood route, he replied, “I didn’t want to play the game.” So he became a game changer. And if you do not like the “games” Perry has created, fine. Don’t hate the playa.’ And don’t even hate the game. Create your own.

And on that note, may Madea say, “Amen,” and “Halleluyer.”

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Last week George Lucas made waves when he took to The Daily Show to explain why it took 23 years to make the upcoming film Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen. According to Lucas, only one thing stood in the way of the historical action flick reaching movie screens: money.

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Lucas spoke candidly about the difficulty of getting a film with an all-black cast to garner the backing of major studios and even larger budgets. Apparently studios don’t think films with black casts are commercially viable here or abroad, and therefore don’t invest big bucks in making them.

Today, Tyler Perry took to his website to talk about his own difficulty making films despite posting respectable box office numbers. Perry ratcheted up the rhetoric a bit more and argued that films with black casts are “on the verge of becoming extinct.”

Why? Well, read Perry’s letter to find out. Check out theGrio for more on Tyler Perry.

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A jailbird by the name of Shamont Lyle Sapp, who is reportedly serving time for multiple bank robberies, is suing Jamie Foxx, Tyler Perry and a number of other parties for apparently stealing his movie ideas, TMZ reports.

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In case you haven’t heard … the project is called “Skank Robbers” — a wacky action comedy about two lady bank robbers … with Lawrence’s Sheneneh character from “Martin,” Foxx’s Wanda from “In Living Color,” and according to reports … Tyler Perry‘s Madea … from every bad movie you’ve seen. The project is reportedly in development.

Enter Shamont Lyle Sapp — who, coincidentally, says he’s serving time in Oklahoma for 10 bank robberies — he’s filed a lawsuit, claiming he gave Foxx and Perry the idea for the project … and they cut him out of the action.

According to the docs, Shamont had the idea to unite the three characters in one film — but his version wasn’t a comedy about bank robbers … it was a drama about a mental hospital.

The lawsuit encapsulates Sapp’s idea — “A male white mental patient takes Madea hostage … He deals with phone calls from the negotiators, as Madea actually pleads for her life in a very sad tear-jerking way … Her pleas are to be very sad. No jokes at all.”

Check out the rest of the story here.

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And despite word that Perry is to engaged to an Ethiopian model, rumors that he is gay continue to surface.

A piece published  today by Madamenoir takes the Tyler Perry gay speculation head on, asking “why do people think Tyler Perry is gay.”

Perry’s been dealing with the question marks about his sexuality since he and Madea sashayed from the “chittlin circuit” some time ago.  Although he has not shied away from the rumors, publicly stating several times that he is in fact straight, the rumor has persisted.

Read more at madamenoire.com.

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Melvin Childs, a self-described former radio executive, claims Perry’s growth was significantly dependent on his early investment in him.

Childs also makes the shocking charge that Perry used “risky deals with drug dealers, couriers carrying large bags of cash across the country; backstabbing and double-dealing with corrupt promoters,” plus other illicit means to fund his early work according to the book’s press release.

Read more at theGrio.com

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I don’t know your name, but I know your face. I don’t know your journey, but I know where you are. I am your brother!

I must tell you, what you have done is so courageous. The strength that it must have taken for your 11-year-old voice to speak out about such a horrible act is something that I didn’t have the strength or courage to do at that age.

I was a very poor young black boy in New Orleans, just a face without a name, swimming in a sea of poverty trying to survive. Forget about living, I was just trying to exist. I was enduring a lot of the same things that you’ve come forward and said happened to you, and it was awful. I felt so powerless. I knew what was happening to me, but unlike you, I couldn’t speak about it because no one saw me. I was invisible and my voice was inaudible.

So to think that you, when you were only 11 years old, spoke up—you are my hero! I’m so proud of you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I want you to know you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault. Please know that you were chosen by a monster. You didn’t choose him. You didn’t ask for it and, most of all, you didn’t deserve it. What a huge lesson that was for me to learn. Your 11-year-old self was no match for wicked, evil tactics of this kind. You were hunted like prey. A pedophile looks for the young boys he thinks he can manipulate. The ones who have daddy or mommy issues, the ones who are broken, and the ones who are in need. But this wasn’t you.

Read The Entire Letter At Newsweek

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I said to one of my producers, “who else is out there that young people are looking up to?” One of my producers showed me pictures that his daughter had taken of several hundred kids lined up around the corner to get into a Kardashian store. They wanted to meet Kim. I thought, what better person! She literally has millions of young people following her. I thought and still do think, that it would be very responsible of her to be a part of this film. To have the young people that look up to her, see her in a film that is about, what happens in life when you make the wrong choices. Whether you’re aware of it or not, to be honest with you I wasn’t, millions of young people adore her and are following her every move. If one of those young people see this film and find the strength to live a better life and not go through what these characters went through in this movie, then we have all done what I feel I’m being led to do here. I hope you understand. I really do!

And lastly, because I believe that my films speak from the inside out, why wouldn’t Kim Kardashian be invited into a film about Faith, Forgiveness and the healing power of God? What is wrong with that??

So, my improper thinking kicked in when I heard Sharpton refer to Tyler Perry critics as “proper negroes.” Tyler has been hit with the kind of haterology only reserved for a Black man who was able to stealthily rise to become the highest paid man in all of Hollywood. Not the highest paid Black man; he is the highest paid man, period. Since then, Perry critics have come out in full force, finding creative ways to build their fame by attacking him at every turn. A great example is the commentator Toure, who referred to Tyler Perry films as “cinematic malt liquor for the masses.”

As they say in China, “The fattest pig always gets slaughtered,” so I’m sure Perry understands that you can’t be the king of the mountain without having a few enemies. Personally, I didn’t like Toure’s remarks, not because I didn’t understand where he was coming from, but rather than dig through Perry films to try to understand them, he would rather sit on the side of the road and throw rocks. But jeering from the stands is all you can do when no one invites you into the game.

On the flip side of it all, Sharpton classifying all Perry critics to be “proper negroes” is nearly as problematic as Toure’s malt liquor comment. Perry isn’t just being criticized by “proper negroes,” he’s being critiqued by conscientious negroes. Even Perry himself (I’ve only spoken to him once, for roughly 15 minutes, to try to get an understanding of his rationale) has admitted that some of his more problematic characters are an entertainment sacrifice that he makes in order to reach young adults on issues such as depression, abuse, and addiction. While this doesn’t clear Perry of his responsibility, it does say that he might be sacrificing the battle in order to win the war.

Idris Elba, who starred in one of Perry’s films (“Daddy’s Little Girls”), has himself said that while he likes working with Perry, he chooses not to participate in that which he considers to be buffoonery. Elba’s British accent might make him sound like a proper negro, but it would be unfair to write off his balanced critique as mere jealousy or disconnected thinking. There are plenty of good, decent, down-to-earth African Americans who can’t watch Madea on film without throwing up in their own lap. That’s ok, because not every Black movie is a fit for every Black person – that’s where the term “target audience” comes from.

So, the bottom line is that Sharpton probably should have found a more careful way to describe his disappointment toward Tyler Perry’s critics. Some of them have gone over the top, which Perry doesn’t deserve. But class warfare is not the solution either. I remember Sharpton defining his dispute with Cornel West over Obama to imply that he doesn’t relate to Black scholars, which unnecessarily extrapolates the fight to be about more than just two people. Sharpton, one of the smartest people I know (he’s actually sharper than most of the PhDs I’ve encountered), is wise enough to realize what he’s doing, and I’d be surprised if he himself doesn’t have an issue or two with some of what he sees in Perry flicks.

So, those who have a problem with Tyler Perry’s films have a right to express their concern without being unfairly labeled. But I encourage Perry critics to take a deeper look at the movies to realize that they are not all the same, and that he might have a secondary agenda. Tyler Perry is not a traitor to his race, and the fact that he is so sensitive to the criticism implies that he does care about his people. If these films were coming from “Herman Cain Productions,” we would all be “talking to the hand” right now.

All the while, I plan to miss the next Madea flick, and I certainly hope this doesn’t make me into a “proper negro.” Instead, perhaps we should realize that being Black doesn’t mean we all share the same brain, and we all have the right to disagree.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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The Washington Post reports:

Sharpton said Perry has given work to many black actors who have been ignored by Hollywood, and has created an empire on his own terms: “The ultimate pride is where you don’t have to bend and adjust for others to accept you. … He didn’t go mainstream, he brought mainstream to us.”

Perry said black people first gave him success, and he has sought to tell his community’s stories. He accused his critics of trying to remove themselves from their roots.

“I stayed with who we are, and what I wish I could get us to understand as a people is that instead of getting your education and running from us, you need to ground and root yourself in who we are. Every other culture in this country knows the value of us as black people but we don’t know it ourselves,” he said.

Read More At The Washington Post

Dr. Watkins was casual with his examination, while Toure went in, telling CNN that Perry’s movies amount to “cinematic malt liquor.”

Read more at YourBlackWorld.

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Tyler Perry recently topped off the list of the highest paid men in entertainment. Perry raked in an estimated $130 million last year between his films and two TBS television shows, “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns.” The list was compiled by Forbes Magazine and helps Perry stake his claim as a serious power player among Hollywood big shots.

Perry wasn’t the only African American on the list. Tiger Woods, in spite of being scandal-plagued and only a shadow of his former self, also pulled in $75 million last year. No Black actors or actresses were on the list, showing that production and business models reign supreme. If there is any lesson for aspiring young actors, actresses, athletes and entertainers to learn, its that you gain wealth and power by owning things, and not by working for other people.

Perry’s obvious financial success leads some to wonder just how far a man should go in order to find his way to riches. Perry’s films have been criticized as being stereotypical, degrading and emasculating. At the same time, there are those who believe that Perry is “playing the game” in a way that has created jobs for hundreds of previously out-of-work actors, actresses, producers, directors, and make-up artists. Both sides have a point, since having plenty of money in the bank is an easy way to get people to forgive almost any professional sin; just ask Bob Johnson at BET.

When Spike Lee screamed his critique of Perry from the rooftops, I didn’t agree with him. Lee went out of his way to say that Perry has been engaging in “coonery” in order to sell tickets. Lee was over the top in his remarks about Perry, and Spike seemed unwilling to give Tyler credit for his achievements. Additionally, some have been critical of Spike’s treatment of Black actors, including actor Clifton Powell, who said he would love to “whoop Spike’s ass” for the way he treats his employees.

With that being said, it is important for us to view Perry movies with an eye of balance. Perry’s southern roots may lead him to believe that it’s not so bad to have a chicken and grits eatin Aunt Jemima character dancing for white folks, as long you’re making money while you’re doing it. But the truth is that money cannot and should not be the trump card justification for behavior that undermines the dignity of your people. So, those who see Perry’s financial success as a big “I told you so” in the face of Spike Lee are dead wrong.

Tyler Perry comes off as a man with tremendous compassion, an everlasting love of Black folks and a productive sense of humor. While America laughs at the man in a dress, there is a smarter man behind the scenes working to produce a positive and empowering message. In nearly every Perry film, there are a slew of conscientious and inspiring Black characters who project all dimensions of the Black experience; these characters help to water down those images that might be better fit for a minstrel show. This balance is what gives Perry a license to make us all laugh by putting on a dress.

The point is that Black people have every right to be as silly and ridiculous as any white man we might see on the MTV show,”Jackass.” The problem with predominantly white media is that these are typically the only images provided to us, which puts us into a discriminatory box. Films like “The Help,” and shows like “Basketball Wives” might provide popular and profitable entertainment, but the broader concern is that Hollywood has a troubling history of casting African Americans in subservient and humiliating ways. A man like Perry can tell the story of the Black maid, because it would likely be fused with that of the Black police officer, attorney, astronaut and prostitute. Perry does a reasonably good job of mixing it up and provides a message of love, family, and faith at the end. You can’t get too mad at that.

While I am quick to defend Perry, I caution him to use his power responsibly. After reading the Forbes article, there are thousands of young Black film makers who are tempted to put on a dress and Aunt Jemima costume in order to make their first million. The point that must be kept in mind is that there are things more important than money, and having “a grip” of cash in your bank account does not excuse all forms of ridiculous behavior. In fact, you can’t put a price on your self-respect.

But I’m sure Perry knows this already.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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Tyler Perry is richest man in Hollywood

Perry, who made $130 million in Hollywood last year, made his fortune through the movies and TV shows he’s produced.

Perry  is followed by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Steven Speilberg.

Forbes reports:

Thanks to five movies he has cranked out over the past two years and two TV series, Perry earned $130 million between May 2010 and May 2011, which ranks him as the highest-earning man in entertainment for that time period.

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The New York Times reports:

That movie studio and Mr. Perry — whose flourishing African-American fan base consistently turns his plays, television shows and films into hits — are forming a new venture called Tyler TV, according to an industry official briefed on the matter who requested anonymity because the plans are private.

The partners will initially stock the channel with reruns of Mr. Perry’s sitcoms and movies, including the popular Madea series, in which he appears in drag as the title character, a gun-toting grandmother. They also plan to buy third-party content that meshes with Mr. Perry’s Christianity-tinged brand.

Read More At The New York Times

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“Back in December, when we thought we were having a kid, I got a little overwhelmed,” Tyler added before confirming that there is a special lady in his life and that their aforementioned pregnancy scare worked his nerves a bit. “Now, I got overwhelmed when I first got a dog because I knew I was responsible for this living creature. So think how I reacted to the thought of having a child.”

“She’s really, really special. It’s the longest relationship I’ve been in,” he added without actually revealing the identity of his lady love.

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Before I even begin, let me admit that I’m not entirely qualified to answer that question myself because although I’ve seen every movie Spike’s ever made including Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop, I’m not as familiar with entirety of Tyler Perry’s filmography.

The five Tyler Perry movies that I have seen, I’ve liked. The first Why Did I Get Married, perhaps the best.

The thing about Tyler Perry movies to me though is that while they’ve all been admittedly good, none have been, to this point at least, spectacular.

None have demonstrated any nuance in either style or form, none have presented anything groundbreaking as far as the art of filmmaking is concerned, and perhaps most importantly, none have ever required from any of their actors or actresses the type of performance that pushed him or her to the boundaries of their abilities.

Spike Lee, on the other hand, is a nut. His style is always nuanced, his technique original and Denzel Washington, John Leguizamo, Clive Owen, Angela Bassett, Mira Sorvino and Rosario Dawson have all been at their best while rocking with him.

This work itself however, has mixed results.

When Spike’s been off, he’s produced clunkers like Miracle at St. Anna and Girl 6.

But when Spike’s on, he’s produced absolute gems like Malcolm X, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, and Inside Man.

This isn’t to say he’s better than Tyler Perry, though.

To say that, I’d have to presume to know what each filmgoer needed.

On the issue of the current beef between the two men, I take Tyler’s side all the way.

Spike was way out of pocket to compare Tyler to Amos n Andy, not even able to disguise the fact that all he’s doing is hating, mostly because Tyler Perry movies are like dynamite at the box office, while Spike’s films are more like a firecracker.

On the issue of films however, if I had to choose one over the other, I’d choose Spike.

I always want to feel passionate about art one way or another.

I’d rather walk out of a movie feeling that it completely sucked than feeling pleasantly indifferent.

I realize however that not everybody shares this sentiment.

Some people simply want to be entertained.

And at least Tyler’s guaranteed to give them what they paid for.

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Perry saw the story on a local television newscast and decided to rebuild the house. He also fully furnished it.

More than 20 family members attended ceremony in rural Coweta County on Friday.

Perry says he wanted to do something for Ransby when he found out the family didn’t have any way to rebuild. He says the main thing was getting her enough space for the children and for them to have room to play.

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Start Gallery

Roland Martin talks with Janell Snowden, Kevin Frazier and Jawn Murray about the lack of African-American representation at this years Oscars, supporting Black filmmakers and the backlash against Tyler Perry.

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Halle Berry won the outstanding actress prize “Frankie & Alice,” and also shared a heartfelt acceptance speech about achieving her childhood dream.

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“If it were not for the NAACP,” Berry said during her acceptance speech, “a little girl … dared to dream what was impossible, what people said a little black girl could not do” and become an actress.

Read full list of winners and more at BaltimoreSun.com

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We originally reported that the Human Relations commissions ordered the Carmike theater to pay the patrons in the 2007 ruling. The theater was actually vindicated by the Delaware Supreme Court days prior, which we failed to report.

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Justices Randy J. Holland, Carolyn Berger and Jack B. Jacobs ruled the non-racial explanations for the announcement were reasonable and pointed to uncontested evidence that a week earlier Stewart had made the same announcement at a showing of the movie “Halloween” to a largely teenage audience.

Tyler Perry’s Leading Ladies

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Morgan Freeman, Tyler Perry

Los Angeles– Tyler Perry’s next role will be Alex Cross, a precocious detective which was previously played by Morgan Freeman in the 1990s. The character Cross, who was created by best selling author James Patterson has been a reoccurring character in “Kiss The Girls” and “Along Came a Spider.”

Variety reports that Perry will play the role in the film “I, Alex Cross.”

Rob Cohen is on board to direct the new take, which has no distribution. QED will be selling worldwide rights in a few weeks at European Film Market in Berlin.

Idris Elba was due to portray the detective in an indie due to be directed by David Twohy, but that adaptation appears to be shelved for now.

Perry is best known for his voluminous work as a director-screenwriter-producer of urban dramas and for playing the outspoken black female character of Madea in many of his movies. This would be the first major role Perry has undertaken that doesn’t involve one of his projects.

Read more at Yahoo.com

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She was charged with prowling and criminal trespass, then released. Police are still searching for two other suspects.

Perry directed this year’s film “For Colored Girls” and co-directed last year’s “Precious” with Oprah Winfrey.

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The Atlanta-based filmmaker visited Ransby’s neighborhood Thursday and pledged to rent her a house for a year, pay for her utilities, buy her furniture and then build her a new home.

Coweta Fire Chief Todd Moore said Perry’s decision “made my Christmas.”

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Can anyone name a movie that came out recently starring a black man who wasn’t a sociopath? Someone who had a terrific screen presence, like a young Paul Robeson? And he portrayed a character who was complex and fully drawn? Did he respect black women, too?

Anybody see that movie? I didn’t. But surely it’s out there somewhere, right? An alternative to those Tyler Perry films portraying black men as Satan’s gift to black women? But where is it?

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(NewsOne)– I went to see “For Colored Girls,” the exciting new film made by the great Tyler Perry.  I love Tyler’s work, most of the time, and I’ve defended him on multiple occasions when he’s come under attack for the nature of his films.  Spike Lee is one particular Tyler Perry hater that I’ve taken issue with, primarily because I think that Tyler does more good than harm in the industry.

But as much as we love Tyler Perry, all voices must be portrayed when responding to his style of film making.  My own voice became amplified after seeing “For Colored Girls,” primarily because the film made me damn near embarrassed to be a black male.  Let’s go down the list shall we?  The black men in the film consisted of a rapist, a thief, an abuser who murdered his own kids, a pimp, and a brother on the down low.  Now, Hill Harper had the distinct honor of being the knight in shining armor, but he was the only ray of goodness in the terrible rainbow that represents the experience of the black woman in America.

I wonder what I would think if I were a non-black person watching this film to get a sense of what happens in the African American community.  Well, first I’d conclude that most black women are well-balanced, fair and emotionally giving to men who simply don’t deserve it.  I would then think that a small percentage of black men have the capacity to do good things, but that most of them will steal from you, deceive you, rape you, cheat on you and do all they can to provide irreversible and unthinkable pain to those who love them the most.  I can just hear one of the white women in the theater saying,  ”Those poor black women.  Why in the world do they remain loyal to those horrible men?”

Perhaps Tyler needs to make a sequel to his film titled, “For Colored Men.”  In the film, we would portray the millions of black men who do the right things and end up being demonized for not doing the right thing in the right way.  Perhaps we might tell the story of the man who doesn’t want to get married, but is pressured into marriage by a community that will force a man to do something that he knows he can’t do very well.  We can also tell the story about the gay black men who go to a church which tells them that if they pray hard enough, the homosexuality will leave their body like the 24-hour flu.  We can cover conversations where some black women repeatedly state that if a man doesn’t make enough money, he doesn’t deserve to have access to her (as she dates the man with a lot of money who breaks her heart).

We could also tell other stories, like that of the good men who pay extra child support to take care of children who are not their own or those who fight to  make a marriage work with a black woman who refuses to hear that she may also play a role in the breakdown of African American families.  Finally, we can tell the story of the millions of men who may not always behave exactly as women ask them to behave, but are good, caring human beings nonetheless.  The moral of the story would be that black men are human too, and that both genders are inclined to make bad choices.

I admit that I’ve seen “For Colored Girls” in the past in the form of other movies.  The films were called “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Women of Brewster Place.”  In both films, there was one story after another of why black men are responsible for the misery of black women.  Also, there was a gathering (you know, a party or something) in which the women worked through the horrors that the men in their lives had caused them.  Perhaps one day, we can get past the notion that black men have a monopoly on demonization and realize that it might be more complicated than that.  Simplistic plots to tell a complex story just don’t always work.  Tyler, as much as I respect him, can be the master of simplistic plots and characters.

I still love Tyler Perry and I still support his role as a film maker.  But with this latest project, he seems to send a message that his films are for colored girls only.  I look forward to the day where black men have a voice, for we have stories to tell too.

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Harpo Productions said Thursday that each of 200 men in “The Oprah Winfrey Show” audience will hold a photo of himself at the age when he says he was first abused. Winfrey will be joined on the Nov. 5 episode by filmmaker Tyler Perry and a psychologist who works with male sexual abuse survivors.

In the show’s second half airing Nov. 12, the men will discuss abuse’s impact on their relationships as they are joined by their spouses, partners and girlfriends.

Winfrey has said she was abused. The talk show host says she’s proud of the episodes and hopes they “can be an open door to freedom” for men who have been abused.

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All those militant-nappy headed #AngryBlackWoman who didn’t think @tylerperry was worthy of #ForColoredGirls can #KickRocks

When he was criticized for his tweet, Murray cam back with:

So a few militant-nappy headed #AngryyBlackWOmen are mad I used “nappy-headed’ earlier. Do me a favor = Get A LIFE & Get a PERM! How’s That?

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The mogul recalled being beaten and sexually abused by a male and a female relative – and how he once blacked out for three days.

And as the tears gave way to rage, Perry told Winfrey, “It’s so disgusting.”

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