Ok, flash back
Back in May Spike Lee did an interview with Ed Gordon on Our World with Black Enterprise. In the interview he complained about “coonery and buffoonery” and both of Tyler Perry’s shows “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne,” comparing them to characters from minstrel shows. His actual comments below…
“We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make]. As African-Americans, we’re not one monolithic group, so there is room for all of that. But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to ‘Amos n’ Andy.’”
“Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors, but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery. I know it’s making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better. … I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows (Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne”), and I am scratching my head. We got a black president, and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat?
Ok, now flash forward…
In a recent interview for 60 Minutes, which airs tonight at 7, Byron Pitts asked Perry his opinion on Lee’s accusations of him. Perry responded…
“You know, that pisses me off. It really does. Because it’s so insulting. It’s attitudes like that that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist and that’s why there’s no material speaking to them. I would love to read that to my fan base.”
Ok…now that you are up-to-date here is my opinion in…
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1.
I admire Spike Lee for his ground-breaking films and story-lines that push what is considered the norm…HOOOWWWEEEVVVVER for him to total disrespect Tyler in PUBLIC like he did was uncalled for. Spike is ol’ skool and that’s how he should of handled this situation…face to face the ol skool way. If he had any questions on the content that Tyler chooses to address in HIS…that’s right…HIS movies, I’m more than positive that Tyler was only one phone call away. I would think that Spike would try to respect another African American making it in such a non-African American dominated arena. Don’t get me wrong…its fine if he wants to critique him…but come on…comparing his work to Mantan and Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat was pretty gosh darn low!
It’s even sadder to think that Tyler probably actually looks up to Spike. Tyler’s answer seems pretty strong in writing, but in the actual video he really looked…hurt. I’m not a fan of our people publicly humiliating each other…what’s the use…what are you even accomplishing? I think Spike should ‘do the right thing’ *giggle* and apologize to Tyler. But…that’s enough of my talking…check out the video clip below and tune in at 7 to see the full interview.
