You know I've never been a fan. I've even predicted that Tyler Perry will be the Jerry Lewis of blackfolks. Rising from obscurity and living in his car to become an empire-building sot, living forever, contributing nothing of artistic or lasting value. So check out the trade, Variety, declaring that the Writer's Guild union is taking the blush off the rose (rather, the grocery store carnation), by filing unfair labor practice charges against him for firing writers on House of Payne (his latest minstrel show). Tyler's lawyer says (1) the writers aren't necessarily union members and (2) were fired because their work-product quality had declined. Tyler Perry firing someone for bad quality is like Orson Welles worrying about cholesterol.
Now, Tyler is apparently a SAG and Director's Guild card-carrier. They all shit on writers. Who doesn't? But there is such a thing as labor solidarity, as evident by the big name directors and actors who honored the picket line in the writer's strike of 07-08. Black folks love unions. Imagine the internal conflict, then? Will that translate to a backlash? Will the Tom Joyners and the Steve Harveys out there call Tyler out? Hmmm. Tyler has a following analogous to Sarah Palin's among so-called "real" people--didn't you know? And among churchfolk who don't seem to mind how wonderfully smooth his skin shines. LOL Of course, we "elite" bastards "don't get it." Oh, we get it, all right...
18 comments:
Uh-oh! You should take Stephen Colbert's place...
I was a legal assistant for BIG Cleveland law firm doing MANAGEMENT side labor law, and this seems to be as blatant as it gets. We told our clients to at least be shystie about it and taught them tricks to avoid this stuff!
You are right that this will hurt his image only among people intelligent enough to understand what he has done, but not his CORE fans!
There are whiffs of stories out there about how he's a big Barack supporter but now he's a union buster, and that is an embarassment to Obama. Interesting angle now. He's made some stupid comments however, like Ludacris, when it comes to Barack.
He will be in big trouble if the SAG repped actors refuse to cross a pick line.
His movies will have to hire only non- SAG and that may not fly with his base/viewers who want to see stars.
He is worth half a billion...he's need to offer health insurance to his writers.
Fuck Tyler Perry! This negro is nothing more than Aunt Jemima in Hollywood.
My wife has tried to get me to watch his movies but I just can't bring myself to do it. His caricatures of black women...and men are so stereotypical! Him and TD Jakes have made much paper directing their propaganda toward black women and to our detriment, many have bought it hook, line and sinker.
Speaking as one of those everyday black folk, I could give a damn about those writers. People lose their jobs everyday (especially now). When you're down, a Tyler Perry movie or play is just what you need. The messages of faith and hope will always be relevant.
100 years from now, people probably won't understand the appeal of Tyler Perry. They won't understand the appeal of Grisham or Patterson either, so what's your point?
Chris
I live in the right to work south, where these writers were employed. F**k em! White Folks have used unions for their upward moblity for generations to the exclusion of AA, sure some of us had union jobs...but while vacationing up in Cape Cod this weekend, I here how the FOB is giving the Black Governor of MASS, grief for removing police offices from construction sites...another shake down to line the pockets of union members, and I not going to talk about this scandal. http://trainjotting.com/2008/09/24/lirr-disability-scandal-fbi-raids-retirement-boards-li-office/
So if Tyler wants to fire union screenwrites f**k em, as long as he keeps employing black actors, technicians,and purchasing the King Papers, contributing money to HBCUs....f**k all those bitching about Madea!
I disagree and think it is a mental issue. From what I know, he may be "paranoid" about success and literally wants to keep glory and money, and even attention on himself. The pressure of being gay and not being "outted" to his rather large church-going audience must be immense as well. Union issues are just an ancillary thing to the personal issues.
I'm not a fan at all, but even if I was, he needs to get it together and get with unions. They aren't perfect entities but without them a whole lot of workers would be in worse straits than they are.
Chicama Vineyard
I beleive that you might be correct in that assertation about Tyler Perry, I always felt that he and E Lynn Harris should get together to make a film based on his novels, but folks tell me that this may impact his following amongst the Church Folk!
Chicama Vineyard
I beleive that you might be correct in that assertation about Tyler Perry, I always felt that he and E Lynn Harris should get together to make a film based on his novels, but folks tell me that this may impact his following amongst the Church Folk!
I know nothing about this fellah or his work.
So pardon me to ask yr opinion on Irwin Tang's Gook: John McCain's Racism and Why It Matters [YouTUBE video link]
Oh, Mr. Chambers.
You really must share your thoughts on the Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo).
This crap could cost Obama the election.
I am no fan of Perry and wonder why people are rabid fans of his.
like you said, he has not contributed anything of value.
He has one good movie under his belt (you know the one with janet jackson looking like her skin was pulled back...)
This is why many in Atlanta support TJ.
ATLANTA — Tyler Perry unveiled a new multimillion-dollar TV and film studio Saturday on 30 acres in southwest Atlanta.
His renewed commitment to the city came after he once flirted with departing. Perry said he had considered leaving Atlanta for good after neighbors complained about noise and traffic at his old studio in a neighborhood close to downtown.
"Even though it was a studio there for 15 years, there was a lot of resistance in everything I was doing," Perry said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press earlier in the week. "I was thinking about leaving at one point, but this is home for me."
His new Tyler Perry Studios contains more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space in an area that once housed Delta Air Lines' finance, reservation and computer center. It was vacant when Perry found it.
The guest list included Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Hank Aaron and Whitney Houston. R&B singer Mary J. Blige was to perform.
Perry, 39, said the studio features five sound stages that will be named after Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson — with one still unnamed. He will shoot his TBS sitcoms "House of Payne" and "Meet the Browns" along with other film projects at the studio.
Perry said he knew the new location would be an improvement. His old building was on property zoned commercial, but the street next to it is residential.
"I knew spiritually I was in the wrong place," said Perry, whose projects include "Tyler Perry's the Family That Preys."
"You can never be upset with the people who forced you into your dream or up higher," he said. "They forced me out into a higher situation. It's worked out much better for me."
Perry drew criticism from the Writers Guild of America, West, after Perry fired four writers from "House of Payne" earlier in the week. A guild spokeswoman said in an e-mail Saturday that the four, along with supporters, planned to picket Sunday morning at Perry's Atlanta home
So Chris I got to agree with anonymous, if you haters out there white or black could put some dollars back into our communities like Tyler, or just remain silent. I respect you Chris as a writer, and I agree that the quality work being promoted these days are mediocre at best, but your criticism is misdirected in this case. I would like to see writers like your self get option into screenplays, but this is the first step in the progression. Look how far we have come in the last twenty years in film and Television.
My biggest criticism of Upper and Middle Class black folks is….we complain about the quality of Television and Film, but we don’t support the programming that contains positive images, and good writing. Poor and working class blacks watch TV, and many of them rather watch dumb comedies than Andre Baugher in Gideon’s Crossing!
I did a recent post about Mr. Perry also. On one hand, his story is an inspiration, determination, hard work and success. But that nagging thing about dressing up as a mammy just bugs me...
"Every nigger is an entertainer".
I don't know. Tyler isn't the best thing since sliced bread by a long shot, but I can't hate on his hustle. He's playing the game to his advantage. Ideals don't leave legacies.
As far as his being gay. If church folks ain't figured that one out, then they never will, but you know they were good for acting like the gay choir director wasn't really gay, he was just the best musician in the house.
On the firings, I can care less than a good got damn about unions. They push up the wages for their majority white clients and work like hell to keep brothers low on the totem poles in the unions - at least that's been my experience.
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