After Tyler Perry ruffled a few feathers with his clapback towards critics of his films and “highbrow negroes” during his appearance on Keke Palmer’s podcast, “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” earlier this week, Palmer is coming to his defense.
As previously reported by The Root, the podcast’s conversation was spawned by the recent performance of Perry’s latest film, “Divorce in the Black.” which dropped on Prime Video earlier this month. After debuting with a shocking 0 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and a myriad of people once again calling Perry out on his consistent negative and downtrodden portrayals of Black women onscreen and inconsistent storytelling methods, Perry took the time to address the criticism.
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“You’ve got this ‘highbrow negro’ with his nose up looking at everything, and then you got people like where I come from who are grinders and really know what it’s like,” the writer and director said. “Who are you to say which Black story is important or should be told? Get outta here with that bullshit.”
As his comments naturally began to circulate online, folks further called out Perry, but Palmer wasn’t having it. After a person online spoke his peace in response to Perry’s comments on X/Twitter in a since-deleted tweet, Palmer responded in kind, defending the Madea creator and alleging that the problem isn’t with Perry or his art—it’s the Hollywood system as a whole.
“The enemy isn’t Tyler it’s the system that makes it hard for multiple black artist to shine at one time. Oppression turns you against the person that gets the shine opposed to questioning why there can only be so few at a time. Tyler is not the gatekeeper of all black stories he’s just one creative who broke through the system. Advocating for others to do the same is the fight, not hating Tyler for his work that many do love,” she wrote.
When another user on X/Twitter responded to Palmer’s point citing the fact that Perry doesn’t hire writers and puts out “the same misogynoiristic bullshit movies every time he wants to release a shitty movie” and that “he’s part of the system,” Palmer retorted:
I believe he’s definitely found a way to work in the system and he’s employed a lot of black people, including writers which we speak about in the interview. So, not just in front of the camera but behind. His set was the first set I ever saw a black crew, so that gets my respect. You don’t have to love his movies though, I just don’t blame his movies for oppression.
She later added in two followup tweets:
“This is fair. But taste is so subjective, hallmark is always telling the same story and that’s considered a niche. So I’m giving that same grace to our creators. There is criticism that’s based in what something is and criticism based on what you want something to be. Lifetime is never gonna be HBO and it’s not supposed to be. I like them both...I think it’s less about changing Tyler and more about uplifting and popularizing other work that we love. There is Issa Rae, Tracy Oliver, Justin Simien, Jordan Peele, Jeremy O’Harris, Janicza Bravo, Nia DaCosta etc. He’s not the only black creator creating and they all deserve the right to share their perspective.
Do Palmer and Perry have a point?
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