Tyler Perry rebukes criticism of not having writers room: 'I don't give that energy'

Tyler Perry has no intention of listening to the naysayers.

The billionaire filmmaker and media tycoon is retaliating against people who have questioned why he doesn't have a writers' room. On hundreds of episodes of TV shows like "Sistas," "Beauty in Black," and "The Oval," as well as motion pictures like the "Madea" franchise, the writer, director, and producer is frequently the only author.

Perry tells moviemood90is., "I don't take in the criticism," in reference to his most recent movie, "The Six Triple Eight" (available for streaming on Netflix right now).

"Because if people understood why there was no writers or if they understood what I had to deal with, if they understood what I had to endure, the racism that brought me to the place where I didn't have a writers room," Perry, 55, explains. "I had to fight my way through a racist moment with the Writers Guild of America, a Hollywood union, the WGA, which forced me to stand on my own two feet in order to write all of those episodes.

Therefore, I believe that there would be less criticism and more understanding if people truly understood the history of many things. However, it gives a lot of space for conjecture because I'm not the type of guy that goes around disclosing or discussing everything I've gone through or dealt with."

Perry states that he intends "to make sure that what I'm doing is inspiring and motivating and lifting people and encouraging people."


At the recent Critics Choice Association's 7th annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television, he reiterated a statement he made when he received his Icon Award: "People shoot at the deer that they can see."

Tyler Perry and Kerry Washington's Netflix film "Six Triple Eight" chronicles the real-life experiences of Black women during World War II.

On December 9, 2024, Tyler Perry is in Los Angeles for the Critics Choice Association's 7th annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television at Fairmont Century Plaza.
"People start saying, 'Oh, you're an icon, you're an icon,' then there's always these targets that are put on your back, and nobody wants to be a target," says Perry. "I certainly don't enjoy being a target, but being in the seat that I'm in, being a person that has means (and) being in this celebrity business, of course I'm a target."


It is "not something that I enjoy," he states, but "you know, you roll with it and do what you need to do."

Perry, who is well-known for not reading reviews, isn't going against the grain with his new World War II film on Netflix.

He recalls that at one of his early productions, two critics were seated in the same row. "This is when I stopped reading reviews," he states. "They both attended the same performance. The show was the greatest thing that had ever happened, according to one person. The other person felt it was terrible. Therefore, no, I don't invest that time or effort."