Tyler Perry has gotten plenty of criticism from those who feel his popular movies like “Madea’s Family Reunion” border on buffoonery and don’t reflect well on the black community.
But on Wednesday night, the filmmaker was honored by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. The civil rights leader lashed out at Perry’s black detractors, calling them “proper Negroes” who don’t understand regular black folk.
“This man never apologized for who we were,” said Sharpton, who is also a cable TV host, at his second annual Triumph Awards.
Sharpton said Perry has given work to many black actors who have been ignored by Hollywood, and has created an empire on his own terms: “The ultimate pride is where you don’t have to bend and adjust for others to accept you. … He didn’t go mainstream, he brought mainstream to us.”
Perry was given the Chairman’s Award.
Also honored: Chris Rock and his wife, Malaak, and California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris.
Perry — whose films include “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” ”Why Did I Get Married?” and “Daddy’s Little Girls” — was recently named by Forbes magazine as the highest-earning man in Hollywood. He writes, directs and produces his films and sometimes stars in them; he’s best known for his Madea character, the foul-mouthed, sassy grandmother who has appeared in many of his movies.
He is also responsible for the TBS comedy show “House of Payne.”
But Perry’s films rarely get critical acclaim, and some in the black community have accused him of perpetuating stereotypes.
Perry acknowledged his detractors as he thanked Sharpton for the award.
“When you start out and you’re doing things and you’re trying to do the right things, and you find these attacks happening, and you try and figure out, ‘How do you handle this? How do you deal with this? How do you go there?’ So to have someone like you who has done all that you have done … and have inspired and encouraged and fought for so many people, to stand here and to give me this award, this is really, really awesome,” Perry said.
Perry said black people first gave him success, and he has sought to tell his community’s stories. He accused his critics of trying to remove themselves from their roots.
