Spike Lee Ends His Beef With Tyler Perry: ‘We Are Cool. There Are No Ill Feelings’
Has the never ending beef between Spike Lee and Tyler Perry ended? Apparently it has and you and I are late. Back in 2009 (and probably some time before), some tension between the two became apparent when Lee made some unflattering remarks about Perry’s shows ‘Meet the Browns’ and ‘House of Payne.’ In an interview with Ed Gordon, Lee discussed the characters comparing them to those in a minstrel show, stating:
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?
Perry decided to fire back and respond to Lee in a press conference while promoting ‘Madea’s Big Happy Family’ in 2011.
I’m so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee. Spike can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, ‘this is a coon, this is a buffoon.’ I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies. This is what he said: ‘you vote by what you see,’ as if black people don’t know what they want to see.
Fast forward to the present day and there is no love lost. In a recent interview with Hot 97, Lee explained:
I’ve never ever said that Tyler Perry was not a good businessman. I’ve never ever said that Tyler Perry did not provide many jobs for people of color. And in fact, me and Tyler Perry are cool so there’s no beef between us – supposed beef between us. Him and I were together and there’s no actual static or ill feelings between me and Tyler Perry. I’ve never ever ever said I’m speaking on behalf of 45 million African Americans. I say this is my opinion and my opinion alone.
Peep the interview below.
[Hot97, HuffPo, Instagram]