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Tyler Perry has hit back at Spike Lee\u2019s criticism his Madea character promoted negative racial stereotypes.<\/p>\n
The filmmaker, 53, said he had used Madea \u2013 based on his mother and aunt \u2013 to honour \u201cthe people who made me who I am\u201d.<\/p>\n
He spoke about Spike\u2019s remarks when he joined Chris Wallace, 74, on his new HBO Max talk show.<\/p>\n
Spike, 65, controversially branded Madea \u201ccoonery buffoonery\u201d in 2009 and said it enhanced the negative stereotypes of the black community.<\/p>\n
Watch video:<\/strong><\/p>\n Perry told Wallace: \u201cFor me, I\u2019ve loved the movies that I\u2019ve done, because they\u2019re the people that I grew up with, that I represent.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of them didn\u2019t have a 12th-grade education, but their stories and how much they loved each other, and when they would get sad about something and another would come in and make a joke \u2013 I\u2019m five years old, I\u2019m on the floor with my matchbox cars, I\u2019m in a masterclass for my life.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo when someone says, \u2018You\u2019re harkening back to a point in our lives that we don\u2019t want to talk about or we don\u2019t want the world to see,\u2019 you\u2019re dismissing the stories of millions and millions of black people\u2026 what is important to me is that I\u2019m honouring the people that came up and taught and and made me who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Perry added he thought the Madea project \u201cresonates\u201d with masses of fans as they know \u201cwomen in these experiences\u201d.<\/p>\n He has said Madea is \u201cexactly the PG version of my mother and my aunt, and I loved having an opportunity to pay homage to them\u201d, adding \u201cshe would beat the hell out of you but make sure the ambulance got there in time to make sure they could set your arm back\u201d.<\/p>\n Perry also told Wallace about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his dad and how that related to him successfully creating his $1 billion brand.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cMy father often, he sent a message to me a few years ago through my brother saying, \u2018If I beat your ass one more time, you would be Barack Obama\u2019, meaning that he thinks that his abuse brought me to success.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he totally negates the love of my mother. And the love of my mother is what brought me here. It wasn\u2019t the abuse. It wasn\u2019t the rage and the anger. It was her love that brought me to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n Related video:<\/strong><\/p>\n Perry told People in 2019, his alcoholic father once battered him so hard with a vacuum cleaner it could have ripped off his skin.<\/p>\n He has also said three different family acquaintances raped him when he was aged 10.<\/p>\n