Yesterday, we brought to your attention, via our eurthisNthat.com blog, the new war of words between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry who both are considered successful hyphenates: actor/director/producer, with Tyler arguably the “more” successful.
An-t-way, as noted, in an interview on “60 Minutes,” Perry got a chance to defend himself against comments made last spring by Lee, who described Perry’s hit TV shows and films as nothing more than “coonery.”
Of course Mr. Perry felt he had to respond and did.
“I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base,” Perry told “60 Minutes” correspondent Byron Pitts in a broadcast that aired Sunday. “All these characters of mine are bait, bait to get people talking about God, love, family, and faith.”
“That pisses me off. It is so insulting,” Perry added.
Maybe you’re wondering what else did Spike say? Well, below are Mr. Lee’s original comments, which took place during an interview that EUR published earlier this past May with Ed Gordon at the 14th Annual Black Enterprise Conference.
Here’s how Spike put it down back then …
On stereotypical images of blacks in the media:
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?
On Tyler Perry and what the black consumer (really) wants to see:
We’ve had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton [made Boyz in the Hood], people came out to see it. But when he did Rosewood, nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us! You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet. You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and [Tyler Perry] has a huge audience. 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.
Hmm, makes you wonder who’ll fire the next volley now that this feud is officially on and poppin
