(ThyBlackMan.com) For some viewers, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are like ketchup and peanut butter: Very good on their own, but not always enticing when you try them together. The dynamic duo have decided to come together for a grand experiment on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) with two new shows called “The Haves and Have-Nots,” and “Love Thy Neighbor.”
The shows have received mixed reviews, with some people loving them others hating them. But one thing that cannot be disputed are the powerful ratings: The first Perry show brought in 1.77 viewers and the second yanked in 1.8 million, the highest ever for OWN. That’s big money. But not everyone is happy with the partnership, with a petitioner stating that the shows should be taken off the air immediately.
“Where it is clear that neither Oprah [n]or Tyler Perry are not [sic] experts on race and racism, they have also refused to utilize feedback from the conscious black community and scholars on racism regarding the damage that Tyler Perry and his brand of entertainment perpetuate against the black community,” states the petition.
Less than 100 people have signed the petition, so I doubt that Oprah is losing any sleep over it. The show is also referred to as “malt liquor for the community,” reminding me of a similar comment made by Toure during a CNN segment that he and I were on together a couple of years ago (which I didn’t agree with). Tyler and Oprah are grown-ups, so I’m sure they are strong enough to withstand any criticism that might come as a result of their collaboration.
One can easily see how both Winfrey and Perry tend to support art that is reflective of their worldview: For a very long time, I was concerned that Oprah hated nearly every black man who didn’t behave in the way that she deemed appropriate, and Tyler’s portrayals of black men can also be less than flattering. At the same time, I find Perry’s focus on love, family, spirituality and healing to be just what the black community needs as we seek out ways to overcome the trauma of our unrecognized holocausts of slavery, Jim Crow and mass incarceration. When I spoke with Tyler, I recall him saying that he considers Madea to be the counselor that most black people can’t afford to visit on their own: Comedy disarms the viewer and prepares them to receive the deeper message that might make the difference between life and death.
I argue that Winfrey’s past as a victim of abuse has led to a lifetime of healing that no amount of money can accelerate. Their experiences are sad reflections of how the cycles of abuse, addiction and other ills of a racist society affect so many of us to this day. We are a psychologically damaged people, and even worse, most of us don’t even know it.
But here’s the thing: Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey are good people seeking to do good things for the world. They don’t selfishly hoard their wealth while children starve in the street. They don’t deliberately produce messages that are hurtful or directly harmful to others. They don’t make their money in a way that seeks to destroy or exploit the black community.
The worst you can say about Tyler Perry is that his films aren’t exactly masterpieces. He never went to film school and he won’t win many (if any) Academy Awards. But he knows his audience, knows his product and produces content for those who seek to enjoy it. He also creates more jobs than any black filmmaker in history (sorry Spike, but you know it’s true). Those who don’t want to watch his films can go do something else.
To make this point more clearly, let’s compare Tyler Perry to another influential media figure, the rapper Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne constantly reiterates messages that teach black men to shoot each other in the face, sleep with as many women as they can, drink as much alcohol as they can possibly consume, and sip codeine “sizzurp” for breakfast. These messages affect all of us, because you can go into any high school and find a thousand Lil Wayne lookalikes who have embraced these messages and have allowed commercialized hip-hop to make them think that it’s cool to be an a**hole.
These messages destroy the next generation of husbands and fathers, and put all of our lives in jeopardy. That’s why I helped to undermine Wayne’s sponsorship deal with Mountain Dew: One of black America’s greatest challenges is that we have corporations that are sponsoring weaponized psychological genocide that destroys black boys before they are even old enough to think for themselves – that’s where thugs come from.
Tyler Perry is NOT Lil Wayne. If you don’t like his movies or TV shows, don’t watch them. No black person is ever going to kill someone or overdose on drugs because Tyler Perry taught them how to do it. But there are a whole bunch of kids popping mollies at the club because they heard a rapper telling them that this is the cool thing to do. A bunch of these kids will end up dead or in rehab in just a few years, leaving even more of our kids without adequate parents to take care of them because their daddy is living in his mama’s basement smoking weed and playing Xbox all day. Yes, this happens a lot, and it’s not just because of structural racism. Your outcomes are also affected by the way you are taught to think.
As it pertains to Oprah Winfrey, when I weigh the good and the bad, I consider this woman is nothing less than an angel. She gives like there is no tomorrow, provides as much thoughtful and healthy programming as she can, and empowers nearly everyone in her sphere of influence. Some may ridicule her struggles as the owner of her own network, but this is exactly the kind of struggle that all of us go through when we seek to start our own businesses. My great great great grandmother endured a similar hardship when she left the plantation, bought her husband’s freedom and started her own business as well. This is what our people are SUPPOSED TO DO, not just spend our lives in the comfort of a corporate plantation that is owned by somebody else.
So, the point here is that perhaps we should cut Tyler Perry and Oprah some slack. No, neither of them are perfect, and we all have a right to speak about their reputations in their entirety (no hero worship here). But we can’t pretend that Oprah’s decision to bring Tyler Perry onto her network is some kind of cultural atom bomb. It’s just the creation of another sitcom that some of us will love and some of us will hate. No harm, no foul.
Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.
Wow, this paragraph is nice, my younger sister is analyzing these things,
so I am going to convey her.
“For a long time, I was concerned that Oprah hated nearly every black man who didn’t behave in the manner that she deemed appropriate.” And? Everyone hates/dislikes black men who don’t behave appropriately. Hell, I hate/dislike drug dealers, gang bangers, drug addicts, criminals, etc. And not just the black ones either. But you make it seem as though disliking thugs is so horrible but it’s not. What’s horrible is supporting these feral males as if they do nothing wrong or the destruction they cause is okay.
“Tyler’s portrayal of black men can also be less flattering.” That’s because there are black males doing unflattering things. It’s no secret that blacks don’t like viewing reality. Less than flattering shit goes on in black communities and when its revealed most of the time, blacks wanna complain, especially when a black man like Tyler reveals it. In the movie Temptation, for instance, a married black woman cheats on her husband with a black man who infects her with HIV. A lot of blacks lost their minds. Women went so far as to say that Tyler didn’t like/disliked/hated black women. Why? Because a black woman who cheated ended up being infected with HIV? In reality, it happens. Hell, black husbands have been infecting their own partners with HIV on purpose. Try getting a hold of the tape/DVD of the interview conducted by Peter Jennings with a group of black males from Atlanta who were on the down low and infected their partner(s) as if it was no big deal.
I’m no fan of every Tyler Perry project but there’s no way I have so much hate and jealous towards him (or Oprah) that I’ll sign a petition. If you don’t like any of their work just turn the channel. Just know that The Have and Have Nots hit network high ratings with its March 11 spring finale, garnering 3.6 million viewers. OWN has ordered 20 additional episodes for a total of 56 through 2015.
Tyler and Oprah have a monster hit on their hands.
I believe all those petitioners should leave Tyler and Oprah alone. I am happy to see two black celebrities working together. Oprah is the best. She always finds a way to push people further regardless of race. For example Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz
Every time someone tries to do something good here come the naysayers. Why don’t people petition all these housewives shows or family guy or the Simpsons or Southpark but the moment a black person wants to do something we need a petition really. People need to grow up. He’s giving people jobs and his comedy isn’t hurting anyone
I think Oprah has a bigger issue to worry about-why is OWN being yanked off various Direct Tv packages? Just odd that all of the sudden it’s gone.
Dr. Watkins, what is the relationship between stereotypes and discrimination? What is the relationship between the images perpetuated (in common form) through media and societal beliefs about groups of people? Is it wrong for fans of Oprah to ask her to be informed about structural racism and to act accordingly? As long as she is an angel, I suppose it is a fair question to ask- Should her articulated commitment to producing positive programming supersede her interest in making money?
I think she has not had the support from the people who claim to love her, and she sold the “dream” out to make that quick Tyler Perry money. God bless America. Unfortunately it undermines the anti-racism work many of us are committed to.
BTW, we’re up to 255 sigs! Woot woot! It’s all good this is exercise is about challenging the status quo and having productive discussion.