Social commentator Touré was on CNN earlier today, and he had quite a bit to say about Tyler Perry. Perry, who's skill-base (actor, producer, director, writer, entrepreneur) is so vast he could probably be a one-man show at this point, has received a lot of criticism in the past for his wildly successful films (Spike Lee once called them "coonery and buffoonery"), but nothing like this.
As you can see in the clip above, Touré appeared on CNN Newsroom, along with Syracuse University finance professor Dr. Boyce Watkins. He proceeded to slam Perry's films, calling them (with quite the snooty tone to his voice) "cinematic malt liquor," adding that he believes the films are "celebrating a certain 'victimhood' for colored girls."
"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," he continues.
Watkins, who was relatively quiet throughout Touré's rant, counters that Perry's films are creating jobs for black entertainers, something Hollywood doesn't really do too often. But Touré even has a rebuttal for that, saying that "drug dealers also create jobs," and that it doesn't make them "good jobs."
[Via Mediaite]
