Actress Who Bought Billboard To Get Tyler Perry’s Attention Reacts To Director Criticizing Her + Reveals She Did Get An Audition

Tyler Perry, Racquel Bailey

Actress Who Bought Billboard To Get Tyler Perry’s Attention Reacts To Director Criticizing Her: It Didn’t Make Me Feel Rainbows & Butterflies

A woman’s billboard message for director and actor Tyler Perry made headlines earlier this week. Now, she’s speaking out after he called her out for her grand gesture on social media.

Racquel Bailey caught lots of attention, including Perry’s, when she posted a billboard near Perry’s Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. It has her headshot, her social media information and the quote,

“Attention Mr. Perry/ Racquel Bailey is your next leading lady”

While this could have gone really right or really wrong, Perry made it clear this isn’t the way to get the right kind of attention from him.

Bailey first responded to his post.

“Well I guess I should respond since everyone is talking about me.. lol ? Thank you Mr. Perry for taking the time to post about my billboard and to give me some wisdom. This was my leap of FAITH and with faith you never know where it will land you or if it will even work. Sometimes we have to step out the norm and do something unconventional. Not everyone is going to agree or think it’s a great idea. That’s the chance I took! God Bless”

She also spoke out on her own Instagram page.

Today is a day I’ll never forget. All this love and support I’m getting is definitely something I wasn’t expecting. So overwhelming and exciting at the sametime. I hope I’m making my mommy proud up in heaven. #RacquelBailey #FaithJumper#LeapOfFaith

She also explained in an interview:

 “It didn’t make me feel rainbows and butterflies. When I decided to do this, I didn’t know what the response would be. Last time, I didn’t get any response from him and I wasn’t expecting really much out of this time as well, but I had to take a chance.”

This isn’t the first time she tried to use a billboard to get Perry’s attention. It’s just the first time it worked. Seven years ago she paid $1,400 for a billboard but never got a response. This time around, she said she used her rent money and paid $2,000 for two signs, a large one and a small one, that both say the same thing.

She added,

“This decision to put up a billboard, though it was directed at Tyler Perry, it wasn’t motivated by him. I have two beautiful children whom I love to take care of and that is my day-to-day job. I want to show them to go after their dreams, more so than tell them.”

“When [my son] gets ready to go for football tryouts, when he’s getting ready to try out for rugby or the school play, he will remember that his mom got told a ‘no’ and she still went out for it. That means more to me more than anything, more than getting a role, more than a booking, more than Tyler Perry’s approval.”

Interestingly enough, she said Perry’s studio team reached out to her shortly after the billboard went up. She told Access Hollywood,

“When he speaks, as an actress, I should listen. And when he put up the post, I really wanted to take heed to everything he was saying. This is my leap of faith. This is my journey. It may not be for everybody else. I wanted to do something out of the box. I probably wouldn’t advise someone ten years ago to put up billboards to try to get a casting director’s attention. So this is me. I can only speak for myself.

But I will say to other actors or people who want a chance, I would say think outside the box. Be creative. It may not be a billboard, but it can be something else.”

She said she completed an audition for Perry’s studios earlier that day.