For those unaware, there was a The Boondocks
episode by Aaron McGruder recently that was a both-barrels-loaded, no-holds-barred satire on Tyler Perry's empire. The Cartoon Network's broadcast included a musical number called "It's alright to Cross Dress for Christ" and enough borderline homophobic references to make the most enlightened of us cringe. Creating a character called "Winston Jerome" he took potshots at Madea, Tyler's sexuality, Jesus and Kool-aid (you'd have to see it, I can't explain it). The show hit some salient points about the whole "pause/no homo" ebonics usage but really just lampooned Mr. Perry.People instantly took sides. Tyler Perry folks, Aaron McGruder folks and everyone in between debated the "validity of the satire" and whether it was just plain mean-spirited. (More mean-spirited than the hot mess that was Why Did I Get Married Too? But I digress…) Here's the episode: (I wouldn't play it at work and if you're easily offended, this is SO not for you)
It did not take long for Mr. Perry to weigh in. Sources say Mr. Perry went to Turner Broadcasting (the parent company for both Cartoon Network and TBS where Perry's negrotastic sitcoms are housed) and basically said "him or me." He is requesting that the episode entitled "Pause" be pulled. This sets my teeth on edge for a number of reasons. I really tried not to tweet or post about it but now I'm ticked off.
Let me see if I understand… it's fine for you to dress up like somebody's gun-totin' electric-slidin' grandma (for a gazillion films, plays and tv shows) but it's not okay for someone to mock you for it? It's fine for you to peddle some of the hot-mess tomfoolery you've recycled for years but no one can call you on it? At least when McGruder goes off the grid, he can call it a satirical license. What exactly is your excuse?
Not that I would ever tell folks to take advice from will.i.am but um... you really should. He took the skewering McGruder gave him in the video "D*ck-Ridin' Obama" and just tweeted his response and vowed to keep on keeping on. Did he go to his label's parent company (Interscope/Universal) and ask them to squash rumored negotiations to distribute a Boondocks soundtrack? No he did not. You know why?
Because it looks petulant and petty to go whining to the principal when someone doesn't play nice in the sandbox. And by the way, methinks thou doth protest too much. So, he called "Winston Jerome" the leader of a homoerotic Christian theater cult and intimated that you are a megalomaniac with an unhealthy addiction to lotioned up men... so what? You're a gazillionaire. Nothing he said will stop the folks that love your product from lapping it up. By the way... Don't you need to be working on not jacking up For Colored Girls
? Please?
Not that you need my advice because you are clearly in the hustle zone without it but just let this go. If you want to say McGruder is hatin' let him hate. You trying to throw your weight around reflects far worse on you then him. And in case no one else has told you this, the more his episode airs... the more people are going to look at your product to see what's true. If you hate the role he cast you in, show us something else.
Sincerely (and please, please don't jack up For Colored Girls),
OneChele
I'm not going to get into a whole lotta TP debate. I will ask this, who thinks the episode went too far? What do you think of TPs decision to go to Turner? Thoughts, comments, insights?
It did not take long for Mr. Perry to weigh in. Sources say Mr. Perry went to Turner Broadcasting (the parent company for both Cartoon Network and TBS where Perry's negrotastic sitcoms are housed) and basically said "him or me." He is requesting that the episode entitled "Pause" be pulled. This sets my teeth on edge for a number of reasons. I really tried not to tweet or post about it but now I'm ticked off.
Dear Mr. Perry,
Let me see if I understand… it's fine for you to dress up like somebody's gun-totin' electric-slidin' grandma (for a gazillion films, plays and tv shows) but it's not okay for someone to mock you for it? It's fine for you to peddle some of the hot-mess tomfoolery you've recycled for years but no one can call you on it? At least when McGruder goes off the grid, he can call it a satirical license. What exactly is your excuse?
Not that I would ever tell folks to take advice from will.i.am but um... you really should. He took the skewering McGruder gave him in the video "D*ck-Ridin' Obama" and just tweeted his response and vowed to keep on keeping on. Did he go to his label's parent company (Interscope/Universal) and ask them to squash rumored negotiations to distribute a Boondocks soundtrack? No he did not. You know why?
Because it looks petulant and petty to go whining to the principal when someone doesn't play nice in the sandbox. And by the way, methinks thou doth protest too much. So, he called "Winston Jerome" the leader of a homoerotic Christian theater cult and intimated that you are a megalomaniac with an unhealthy addiction to lotioned up men... so what? You're a gazillionaire. Nothing he said will stop the folks that love your product from lapping it up. By the way... Don't you need to be working on not jacking up For Colored Girls
? Please?Not that you need my advice because you are clearly in the hustle zone without it but just let this go. If you want to say McGruder is hatin' let him hate. You trying to throw your weight around reflects far worse on you then him. And in case no one else has told you this, the more his episode airs... the more people are going to look at your product to see what's true. If you hate the role he cast you in, show us something else.
Sincerely (and please, please don't jack up For Colored Girls),
OneChele
I'm not going to get into a whole lotta TP debate. I will ask this, who thinks the episode went too far? What do you think of TPs decision to go to Turner? Thoughts, comments, insights?
32 comments:
Disclaimer: I'm on team McGruder - I've been a fan since the strip and own a copy of every Boondocks compilation. I think his voice is very necessary. TP, not so much.
I saw the episode, and do believe it was waaay over the top - as any good satire is meant to be. McGruder's job is not to paint an honest picture of his subject, but a caricature. McGruder aims to magnify those things that make you go "hmmmm" times 100 to make you take a closer look.
Now, even as a TP critic I never looked at his work in quite that light. I've of course questioned his characters and his draw to Madea, but never saw him as a transvestite for Jesus. So, wrong or not, McGruder caused me to take a closer look at a familiar subject - mission accomplished.
P.S Mr. Perry: This is 2010. We still live in the free world. The first amendment is still alive and kicking (if a bit battered and bruised) and satire & parody remain protected speech. You cannot run and tattle because he hurt your feelings - besides, I don't think you have a legal leg to stand on. Suck it up and keep it moving.
I like TP, though I have criticisms of his work. But, for him to go to the network over the episode says to me it might have hit a little too close to home. Just and assumption. I still haven't looked at the episode yet, but I'm still going to see TP's play when it comes to NOLA in September. *KanyeShrug*
I don't watch the Boondocks but this episode was hilarious! TP going to "Daddy" to tell is just crazy. Grow the eff up. It was funny. He needs to learn to laugh at himself. Didn't Tom Cruise do the same thing when the creators of South Park lampooned him?
I don't think the episode went to far at ALL. I think TP is being a baby about the whole situation. I mean unless he's really got nekkid oiled up men folk strutting around his offices. I call fuqquery on the whole shebang. Tyler is just trying to get some press during a time when he doesn't have a reason to be in the press. Going to Turner to weep and moan was foolish and makes me wonder if he might be trying to give them some of the kool-aid McGruder joked about
wow - thanks for posting the whole episode, the ones we get here are a bit behind, so wasn't sure what the whole hoo-ha was about.
i don't understand why tyler perry's so sensitive about this - i mean, he puts himself in these flicks, dressed up as a strange old woman, no less - surely he's to expect some kind of flack? and as for going to the bosses at turner and issuing an ultimatum - i have one word for him on that one.... 'WEAK'!!! how childish can you get.
suck it up and deal, you make a sh!tload of $ on these your movies, of course people are gonna take shots at you! it happens to everyone who puts themselves in situations like this... you're a big boy, act like it! i mean, REALLY!
lol wow he went that far?? i saw the episode and loved it and i love tyler (most times Im just glad to finally see someone black being backed by the big companies would i really LOVE to see Spike get all this Hell yeah but like Lupe says "Dumb it down") the episode was funny as hell yeah they did go a little far but even my mom Bougie as can be liked it and she doesn't like "that cartoon foolishness " (say it in a Jamaican voice and you have my mom), she really liked Rocky Horror salute (otherwise known as the Winston Jerome, "Cross-dress for Christ ), he needs to grow up everyone needs criticism and he needs to let it go
One word. Nope. Everybody been saying that about him for a while. For him to do something like that shows to me even more that the alleged rumor is actually true. You don't have to prove you manhood if you know you are a man.
Isn't being over the top the point of a satire? Especially a satire by Aaron? I mean, I was in shock the first time I watched the episode and doubled over in laughter and tears the second time I watched it. Tyler just makes me question how much more of it is true by protesting so hard. This by far was one of my favorite episodes of Boondocks and I'm happy Aaron is taking no prisoners in his latest episode. Tyler should have taken whatever hee was offended by and learned from it rather than crying about it.
This right here.
I felt like him doing to the network was more damaging than anything the show revealed. I'm a Tyler Perry fan and I thought it was a little over the top but when you make yourself that big of a target, you have to expect that someone is going to take some shots.
hank you for post full episode, I hadn't seen it and wondered what all the drama was about. Now I see. Sure it goes too far but ti's supposed to. If it didn't shock or titillate, it would be social commentary which is McGruder's job.
I alternately love and hate Tyler Perry but this episode was hilarity. I ain't made about it.
TP needs to sit down and quit whining. Like you said, this isn't affecting his bottom line one bit.
Best episode of the year. McGruder at his best takes come piece of the truth, highlights and makes it comical. You are right, TP should've gone will.i.am and said - that's funny. And then left it alone.
Who thought Lip Shine Perry was straight? Folk saw Married One & Two, right? ANYbody believe he was putting it to old girl correctly? Cornbread eatin' shoe shiner with clear mama issues. Eff him.
#TeamMcGruder <- real ninja
Not a fan of either but since you I watched. Shocking to me (because I'm not familiar with this cartoon) but a well done skewer.
So if Perry went to Turner, can we (educated single sisters) go to Oprah and say - Get yo' Boy!
He went to the network? For real? That was a bytchass move right there. Poorly played Tyler Perry.
I watched the episode the first time with my mouth hanging wide open! This being the last season and all Aaron is going IN!!!
Serious bitchassness.
i'm a boondocks fan. i'm pretty much indifferent about perry. when i saw the pause episode i laughed. tyler perry needs to chalk it up.
You stole my comment. Therefore... cosigning.
DEAD at "homoerotic Christian theater cult"
This is my first time commenting though I have been reading for awhile, and I have this to say--Only a hit dog hollers. TP is drawing more attention to himself with all his whining.
Well said OneChele. I am all over in your corner on this one. I have paid my money for my share of Tyler Perry movies and stage plays. I also love the Boondocks. I will not watch any of Tyler Perry's sitcoms because they are amazingly contrived and lacking substance; I will admit that sometimes Boondocks goes over the top to make points without offering up a solution or alternative to the destructive behavior they satirize.
But yes, to go to the network and give ultimatums is baby poo soft. I won't even go in to some long diatribe about it. Perry utilizes stereotypes both positive and negative about black men and women into a formula that sells tickets and to make his movies easily digestible and simple. Maybe his message gets through, maybe it doesn't. Does he expect that NO ONE should criticize him for his tired formula?
TBS is turning into the new "WB" as Florida Evans said "Damn" "Damn" "Damn".....
I think the episode was bigger than Tyler Perry; the underlying theme of the black church and black women stood out for me.
SAY *WORD*!
I thought this episode was brutal and brilliant. I loved it and LMAO.
I have to admit, I LMAO. And I probably wouldn't have paid attention if it wasn't for TP's whining about this episode.
More people than usual probably saw it for the same reason - to see why TP was whining.
I've never liked the messages he sends with his plays and movies - that a woman needs a Jesus-filled man to save and complete her. Maybe it's just me - and in the last Why Did I Get Married movie, he's never played it authentic with Sharon Leal....he doesn't have the chemistry, and I've seen some gay-actors playing straight that still bring it on camera. To me, it's looking like he's trying to play the Donnie McClurkin game - Jesus saved me from being gay.
I think this may be too far gone for even Oprah.
I am hoping he does not "jack up" For Colored Girls.
I want to thank you for sharing this episode with us. I had heard about "Boondocks", but as someone that went on strike against the cable companies years ago, I never got a chance to see it. Tyler Perry should realize that when you put yourself (your brand) out there, you open yourself to scrutiny from all corners, and as my mother used to say: "If you can't take the heat, get out the kitchen". This was some funny ish; , some truth to it, too. Madea serves a real purpose for some people; others find her distasteful and a crude representation of the beloved black mother/grandmother figure, so this is really a heated subject. I think Mr. Perry should be a good sport and just go on counting his millions..and I must cosign on this one....do not, I repeat, do not mess up "For colored girls"!!!!!
I never watched Boondocks before but this episode is genius. It goes hardcore at two things Black folk are extremely sensitive about: religion and homosexuality. Lately I have been thinking really hard about the history of religion in this country (as dictated by white people) and the role it plays in the black community, and this episode is right on time. It goes way beyond Tyler Perry.
I agree totally. While McGruder skewered TP with a pitchfork and roasted him over an open fire of "homoerotic Christian theater cult" hilarity. His (TP's) focus on how a black woman can't be complete without the church and a man are more of what Aaron was mocking.
As someone who was raised by a MuDear (a 5'4", 110 lb school teacher - not that outlandishly oversized, gun toting, electric slide, uncle tom, sass before class version TP portrays). TP's representation of black women is too much for me to swallow, I loathe all of his stuff (without even getting into lack of content) and have only watched after losing a bet.
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