Tyler Perry defends his portrayal of Black women amid the release of ‘Straw’: ‘I’m paying homage’

Tyler Perry’s new film “Straw” has reignited old debates around common themes in the filmmaker’s movies and shows.

After nearly 30 films, Tyler Perry has nothing to say to those who take issue with his portrayal of Black life and, in particular, Black womanhood.

Amid the release of his latest film on Netflix, “Straw,” which stars Taraji P. Henson as a struggling mother pushed to the brink to help her sick child, the 55-year-old writer and director is offering a defense of his work.

“I say nothing to those people who think that my films focus on the struggle of Black women, because they’re right. It does,” Perry said during a recent interview with True Love Magazine. 

He added that, having the opportunity to depict Black women on screen as raw and honestly as he’d like, “What I’m doing is a service to all people, so that people will know that Black women are not just strong and one thing; they are all things, and they go through all of these different things.” 

Since the release of “Straw” on Friday, June 6, the conversation around the film has reignited debates about Perry’s work. Across his canon, from the infamous Madea franchise to the melodramatic realms of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and “Acrimony” to the heartbreak endured in “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” and “The Family That Preys,” Black women are often cast as either broken or bitter, saintly or scorned, with few nuances in between. 

He continued, noting that his work has always been based on his own experiences and the experiences of people he knows and loves. 

“To have an opportunity to be able to paint all of these pictures and all sides was something that I’m paying homage to my mother, to my aunt, to my sisters and friends and cousins and the things that they all went through,” he said.

Perry has been open about the fact that he and his mother, Maxine, were subjected to abuse at the hands of his alcoholic stepfather, Emmitt Perry. In 2020, the producer shared that he was “relieved” to discover he wasn’t biologically related to Emmitt, which he had been led to believe for years. At 41, a DNA test with his brother revealed the truth. Perry also delves into his life story in the 2023 documentary “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.” 

Perry has heard the arguments around his films for ages, despite building a billion-dollar empire on the backs of these stories. For every argument against, his movies still find their audiences. 

While discussing her role in his latest film during a recent interview with “The Breakfast Club,” Henson, who has starred in several of Perry’s projects, also defended Perry’s portrayal of Black stories. 

“These people exist,” she said. “He doesn’t just pull this out of thin air. Those characters are real, Tyler Perry doesn’t just pull this out of the sky. These women exist. These people exist and they need to see themselves and they need to know that they’re not alone and that people do see them.” 

When asked if she gets upset when people say they want him to “stop” with these melodramas, she said, “I think that’s their own trauma that is triggered.” 

“In the community, in the Black community, we don’t deal with it,” she continued. “So if you’re forced to look at it often, you will be triggered. So the first thing you’re gonna say is, ‘I don’t wanna see it.’ But there are people out there that need to see it. He’s forcing real conversations in the community. That’s why I’ll never stop working with him.”