*In an exchange on CNN regarding Tyler Perry’s new status as Hollywood’s highest paid man in entertainment, social commentator Touré went in on the actor/writer/producer/director/entrepreneur – calling his work “malt liquor for the masses.”
One of the main debates has been whether or not Perry’s work, produced for and consumed mainly by black audiences, is actually destructive for the African American community, notes Mediate.com. Spike Lee famously called his broad comedy and melodrama “coonery and buffoonery” and, now that Perry has reached the very top of Forbes‘ annual list, social commentator Touré was invited to offer his take.
Touré began by knocking Perry’s actual talents as a filmmaker. Comparing his films to “cinematic malt liquor,” he said they taught black women to embrace feelings of “victimhood.” However, they were popular just because no one else is talking to those women.
“Tyler Perry is definitely serving an audience that is underserved by Hollywood. Especially black southern women do not see themselves at all in Hollywood fare. So, when he’s serving them movies where they appear to be in situations that are naturalistic and recognizable to them and definitely have that Christian message, I absolutely understand why my grandmother, my mother, and my aunts love this stuff, and my family down south, they love this stuff. I just can’t watch it without cringing because I’ve seen good movies and I know these are poorly made films.”
Defending Perry was Dr. Boyce Watkins who pointed out that, while he wasn’t thrilled about a black man becoming successful for wearing a dress, you can’t argue that Perry has done something that Hollywood hasn’t done for years; give black entertainers jobs. Touré countered that drug dealers create jobs too but it doesn’t make them “good jobs.”
Watch the clip from CNN below:
Although I am glad for Mr Perry’s success, I absolutely agree with Toure.
I always think it’s interesting for those who have so much to say about Tyler Perry are never in a position to counter with an alternative outside of mere lip service. One would think that at least Spike Lee could possibly offer up something, but he hasn’t made viable feature film in years. And who is this Toure dude? And why should I be concerned about what he has to say?
Yeah, but he is NOT trying to pass off his work as anything but what it is…… and those who like that genre should not be made to feel like they are ignant because they want to be entertained that way, nor should Tyler be demonized by the “edjumacated intellectuals” who taste are not the same. Let the man succeed and be given credit in his own right. And I will say, that there has been a couple (just a couple) of Tyler’s films that weren’t “clownish” That one with Tarji Henson, and even the one with Sanaa Latham were drama themed and wasn’t that bad (not great, but not bad). Live and let live. That man is not done, and it remains to be seen what he will evolve into. After all if Bill Cosby can come from “Uptown Saturday Night” Then Tyler can recover from “Medea”
ANNNNNND, talk about “bufoonery” HE looks like Homie the clown!
@MrUnapologetic69, I totally agree with you. Toure calling Terry Perry’s work “Malt Liquor for the Masses” is stupid at best. A person may not like his movies but his movies doesn’t cause any harm to to the black community. What causes more harm to the black community is the current hip hop music and and it impression on young black men.
bytch boy is off base. “I absolutely understand why my grandmother, my mother, and my aunts love this stuff, and my family down south, they love this stuff”, what say this nitwit about huey then? he a nucca from up north and he love’s this stuff too. so what the fuc that make me toupee? dumb hating azz nucca. always got something to say bout motherfucca thats getting they hustle on in a positive way. just cause folks like to laugh dont make them “cinematic malt liquor” drinking son of a bytches. i hate he even coined such a ghetto azz term. need to be kick repeatedly in the spleen for that shyt. act like we aint got sense enough to make up our minds bout what the fuc we likes. tyler perry put more blacks folk to work than dayum near ever director in foolywood. folks that would never have seen the big screen again have been given work by tyler. i say stfu and stay in yo punk azz lane.
bytch boy??? Really?? huey?? LOL!!! you do have a way of getting the point across. LOL!! I totally agree with your comment.
Talk about your crabs in a barrel mentality! Who is this person and who cares about his opinion? The very term ” malt liquor for the masses” is racist and implies we all drink malt liquor. That’s right dumb ass go ahead and perpetrate another stereotype for white ass CNN and their affiliates who have never seen a Tyler Perry movie.
I’m sorry did I miss Tourre’s last movie he produced, directed, wrote and starred in? He comes off as another self- hating “House Nigger” tap dancing for the “Man”.
Pathetic!!!!!!
What was the point of CNN doing this piece on Tyler Perry? Why not have Tyler (the tycoon) on the program and congratulate him, instead of this loser, why didn’t CNN bring on someone to talk about The Tyler Perry Foundation? If this was one of hollywood white elite to top Forbes list they would not have gone out and look for the Toures’ of the world to condemn them. If you are not a fan of Tyler’s work that’s fine, he’s not forcing anyone to watch his movies. Constantly criticizing Tyler and his movies have grown old, I can’t believe people care so much that a man puts on a dress to play a role, is it that serious folks?!?! OMG!
I’m no fan of Toure but clearly, the dude is right about Perry, especially his “drug dealers” response to Watkins’ defense of Perry.
where I do have a problem w/his position is that he casts some sort of “slave shadow” onto people from the south. That was the most ignorant part of his entire point and shows that he doesn’t seem to have much appreciation for his “southern” roots. Perry’s success onscreen is in no way limited to a southern fan base.
Correction: Spike Lee last made statements about Perry a couple years ago. Unfortunately, it has been consistently covered as “now in the news” when it’s not.
Correction: While hip hop may “hurt” our community more, Tyler Perry’s work isn’t absolved from its negative contribution either.
Toure is right about what Tyler offers….
nucca shut your contrarien positioning having self the fucc up. always gotta play the devils azzhole when the devil is already represented.
Looka here old ass nigger, as usual you have absolutely NO substantive critique of what I said but that I shouldn’t say it.
If it ain’t you calling out people who don’t deify the president, it’s dumb shyt like this.
If I had a pork shoulder for every silly nigger like you who likes to puff his cyberchest…I would be a can of spam!
Denny Crain
*DEAD* LOL
Muddyherbalessence you sound like a fucking hater…where is your body of work? Some NIGGERS aren’t never satisfied. I guess you’d rather watch Speilberg….SMDH!
Black people are the true enemy of Black people!
Until we learn not to tear ourselves down, we will continue to be unable to build ourselves up.
Contrary to what some may think, we have not yet arrived. All we’ve gotten are some crumbs. Those crumbs may have tasted good but, the entire meal would have been so much more fulfilling. If some of you fools keep going the way you’re going, we aren’t going to get there because you’ll keep tearing down everything that gets started and fuc it up for the rest of us. I can’t truly convey how totally disappointed I have been in our people over the past few years. The older I’ve gotten, the more the disappointment has grown.
I don’t care about his sexual orientation and if his woman is satisfied, who are any of us to say otherwise. I don’t care that he has a core character in his arsenal that is an exaggerated caricature of a particular subset amongst us because that character comes from a place of love and understanding. That character is used to educate and uplift. Yet, toupee (thanks Huey) thinks that Tyler Perry’s movies encourage women to embrace the role of victim. C’mon son! A Tyler Perry movie has never, ever insinuated that. I don’t care how much you think it’s buffoonery, etc., Tyler Perry has never, ever done that. I will not tolerate the outright, bold-faced lying. His movies have always had a positive tone. And, they’ve always presented that you should stand up for yourself. Or, if you can’t stand up for yourself, that you should reach out, even when you think there’s no one there for you, because you’ll be surprised at who may have your back when you need someone else the most. If you’d get out of your own self-righteous way and actually paid attention and tried to honestly comprehend what is being presented, you’d get it. And for those saying we need something more intellectual, you fools don’t go see it so, shut the hell up! The ones talking smack are the ones that will go see some off the wall movie that was written for whites and claim it’s the funniest thing they ever saw when it’s some of the stupidest dribble ever presented and not even remotely funny.
Lastly for the so-called men that keep going back to the Madea character, y’all a@@e@ protest way too much for me. Entirely too much deflection going on and I see you. If you were as smart as you’d like to think you are, you’d quickly sit down and shut the fuc up. Suspect a@@e@!
brooklynbabe, SHO YOU RIGHT!!!!
Lastly for the so-called men that keep going back to the Madea character, y’all a@@e@ protest way too much for me. Entirely too much deflection going on and I see you. If you were as smart as you’d like to think you are, you’d quickly sit down and shut the fuc up. Suspect a@@e@!
I was thinking about this after watching “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” with Taraji P. Henson the other day. All these people critiquing Tyler Perry’s work aren’t saying anything about the dearth of Black representation on major network primetime dramas and sitcoms. All they do is tear down a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps and is the embodiment of the American dream, employing MUCH brothers and sisters in his Atlanta-based studios, also bolstering and contributing his part to the growing television and movie production scene currently burgeoning in Atlanta.
Toure is a self-important botsy-boi who apparently dreams that anyone wants to hear what he has to say. At least Tyler Perry is putting out Christian-based messages of self-empowerment and love. Say what you want about the vessel, the message isn’t all black-man-hating and black-woman-victimizing.
I don’t even see how you can put the contributions of Tyler Perry and the state of hip-hop in the same sentence. Tyler Perry doesn’t degrade women, tout the gangster lifestyle, rock bling, sell drugs, or promote violence. Hip hop in general is much more than that but the more consumer-focused the industry has become, the quick-and-easy path (i.e. video hoes and bling) has become de rigueur / par for the course. At least TP’s trying something different.
When I think about Tyler Perry versus Eddie Long, who really deserves to be demonized?
No the “entire” message isn’t all black man hating and black-womanivictimizing but it certainly is enough of it to notice.
Didn’t Eddie Long put out “christian-based messages of self-empowerment and love”?
He also was molesting young black men…He’s an equal oppotunity offender!!!
He instead demonized positive black men.
This muthafucking half black idiot has some nerve. Toure who’s married to a white woman. What is the big deal with everybody beefing over this Man (Tyler)…It’s comedy if you don’t like it DON’T GO WATCH IT. There is no way Tyler is making us look bad. You know what makes us look bad those DAMN 13 TO 16 YEAR OLD NIGLETS who drop out of school, sell drugs, rob folks,and gang bang. That’s coonery!
Tyler put what he makes back into the community…what does this Oreo Metrosexual queen named Toure’ does for The african American community?
Oh my sistas on here read this Twitter controversy he caused about Black Women and their body parts. and mind you his wife is WHITE!
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2010/03/white-masters-black-slave-women-and-toures-tweets/
Toure gto sit your opportunistic ASS DOWN!
When someone calls a spade a spade they are demonized. Why is that? Should we always have to celebrate buffoonery? Should I have to explain to a young man the only way for you to make it in Hollywood is to wear a dress?
Alot of people don’t realize it’s satanic and ritualistic for a man to put on a dress in Hollywood. It’s their initiation. Dave Chappelle wouldn’t do it. That is why he fled to Africa and now everybody wanna call him crazy. Even Fred Williamson admitted that they wanted to shoot him in the behind and he said no. Every successful black actor except a limited few has either:
Put on a dress
Got shot in the behind
Or just played some gay dude.
The peeps that run Hollyweird are either mobsters or Gay or both. Tyler Perry lied on how he got into Hollywood. My boy who is a small time producer in LA told me he went to the gay spot hooked up with a heavy hitter and got put on. He was slumming at the fag spots.
Some people are so gullible. People need to research and read and stop just accepting things just because they are successful and on TV. Stand for nothing fall for anything..
Just because you are successful in the world don’t make it good.
Not sure Miss Toure’s motives but I agree with him to a point. Unless that negroid is promoting some book.. LOL
The problem with your slant on your rant is that it is always in the extreme.
Being told that your opinion is not another’s opinion is not demonizing. Being told that the words that you type are nasty, rude, etc. is not demonizing. In fact, please look up the meaning of demonizing, then come back and talk.
No one has to celebrate buffonery. It is the choice of each individual to like it or hate it. Choose the one you want and leave others alone with their choice.
And realize that when some people read your comments, they perceive them to be just as negative and full of coonery and buffonery as the people you talk about. I would go as far to say you sound like a character in one or two or three of Tyler Perry’s movies.
So No, you do not have to explain to a young man that there is more than one way to make it Hollywood. The young man can open his eyes and see Denzel, Idris, Richard, Michael Ealy, Dave Chappell, etc. They have already proven the point. Your overly used point however leaves much to be desired and shows your prejudice.
Speaking of that….In fact, you harp on it so much….I mean it is almost like you have a jones for the subject of homosexuality……. And based on your own words, you like gossip apparently, ’cause your boy told you X, Y and Z. Sounds suspect to me. When you post on the subject, you just keep going and going and going…..you are like the energizer bunny!
Everytime I see your posts, I expect a homosexual comment. Fascinating. I’m thinking you need to just come out closet, for real. lol
You say that to celebrate TP? Or you just want to be my point counterpoint person?
You make no sense. Just because it sounds extreme to you doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant.
But it’s ok; Everybody has an opinion.
Celebrate TP? I type a whole post about YOU, jpfromptown, and you ask me if I am celebrating Tyler Perry? ROTFL. Whoo Hoo, Oh My! Tunnelvision. Again, your level of fascination astounds me. The manner in which you talk about another black man’s sexual orientation is almost never RELEVANT to the story at hand. Make sure you look up that word too.
Do you even realize what the article is about and how the only mention of Toure was to call him MISS TOURE’? Your whole response was about men wearing a dress in Hollywood. The article is not about that.
It does not faze me that you did not understand the words that typed. I expected it. I decided to say that to you since something ’cause Brooklynbabe and MrUnapologetic69 had already said what I normally would have said….so I thought I would have a little fun.
Hilarious!
If you do some research there is a certain sick ritual in Hollywood that has to do with men wearing a dress. Not just talking black folks either.
FASCINATING……………..men in dresses and not just black men. Who knew? (Shoelover looking around with wide, wonderous eyes)
I’m going to pray for you.
I really don’t care for Toure and noticed he knocked Black women in his little rant. Most Blacks have no idea who Toure is, and TP’s success galls folks like him who overstate their own importance. A part of me believe the Black men who attack TP are angry he goes against the status quo by ‘pairing’ Black men and women in his films whereas they prefer to isolate and marginalize Black women period.
Toure’s a reall azzhole IMO:
“he said they taught black women to embrace feelings of “victimhood.” However, they were popular just because no one else is talking to those women.”
And Black women give him credit because he is a gay man.
Black Women (or just women) always gassing them gay dudes up. They wouldnt be prancing around like that if women would just ignore them.
Black men aint angry or jealous of Miss Perry. They just tired of being tired of the stereotypical BS that is out there.
To say someone is jealous or hating is so passe and shortsided.
I dont agree with Miss Toure bashing black women either.
[SMH]… Wow! How much more disrespectful can you get?
truth.
Your truth does not equal reality for all.
Mister Chris,
“This muthafucking half black idiot has some nerve. Toure who’s married to a white woman.”
Now ALL the pieces have fallen into place about Toure. I had a feeling he was all of the above so it figures he has no affinity for Black women and could come out his mouth with…”they were popular just because no one else is talking to those women.”
Glad we got his number bigtime!
So because somebody black they have to be Pro Black to everything? That is about as dumb as heck.
Toure’s points aren’t all bad but his approach comes off very wrong. To compare TP to drug dealers is just way off base. To act as if “Black southern women” are so weak and desperate for attention that they’ll just accept any old portrayal of them on the screen just because they get a little “play” is just ridiculous, especially coming from a Black man who’s married to a woman from Beirut. That, in addition to what he said about Black women and “massa” during enslavement, you’ve got to really wonder if he’s the type of Black man who ever seriously even considered marrying a Black woman (or ever even dated one). Lastly, I had a Twitter interaction with this guy in 2010 and he adamantly and freely used the racial slur ni**er/a but insisted on respectfully addressing the Jewish racial slur of k*ke as the k-word! With those facts on hand, there you have it about this dude!!
His motives are skewed.