Tyler's Critics Are at It Again

I respect Tyler Perry and his work a lot; this is a man who came up from homelessness to millionaire status all by the grace of God. His plays and movies have always had a positive spiritual message in them, and they’re something you can go see with the whole family. Now I haven’t caught House of Payne yet, as I don’t really do much TV these days, but I must say I was kinda surprised to hear that he’s already getting criticism…for having fat people on the show.

HUH?

Apparently the critics (why do we listen to them anyway?) feel as though Tyler is perpetuating the stereotype of the ‘big Black Momma.’ Does this sound ridiculous to anyone else? There are several things I could say on the sheer hypocrisy of it all, but I think Tyler does it best when, in an email to his fans he states (emphasis added):

One person asked why does the mama have to be a "FAT BLACK WOMAN" and said that I am perpetuating stereotypes by putting these overweight people on the show, as if there are no fat black women in America that are mothers. My mother and aunts are fat black women. And that upsets me to think that people, especially Black people, would say that I'm doing a disservice to America by putting them on T.V. Skinny does not make you beautiful. There are all kinds of beautiful women in this world. And if we begin to look at the heart of a person rather than prejudge then we would see that we are missing some of the nicest and most talented people in the world. I'm sorry but I had to get that off my chest. I just don't like to see good people hurt because of ignorance and intolerance.

Amen, Tyler. Amen. To read the whole article, go here.