# Who finds Tyler Perry funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446 "2010-09-20T18:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/41 "2010-09-21T19:20:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I blame Jeff Foxworthy for confusing the two since many of his “You might be a redneck” examples are actually about what’s historically been referred to as white trash. I like the term “peckerwood” myself. Despite some ethnicity behind that as well, it’s really more a cultural descriptor. On the other hand, “white trash” seems explicitly racist (that is, anti-black) because it is based on the notion that a white person _in similar roles_ to a black person (i.e., servants, sharecroppers, menial laborers) is thereby distinguished from other white folks. _More like black_ = trash ( **MTCicero** ’s grouping of “97% of the African American population” with “goddamn white trash” is pretty direct here). > [@MTCicero](#): > > Of course, unlike **Sampiro** , I use the terms “white trash” and “redneck” interchangeably. It’s actually very interesting, from an anthropological standpoint, to view the white trash/rednecks around where I live. They tend to dress very much in the hip hop style (ridiculously, obnoxiously baggy jeans/shorts, cockeyed, flat-billed baseball caps with Gucci and Dolce and Gabana logos on, hooded sweatshirts several sizes too big) and listen almost exclusively to hip hop and rap, and yet are also quick to make derisive, spite-filled comments about the “fucking niggers”. I don’t know where you are, but I’m in one of the primary historical centers of redneckism, southern Appalachia, and anyone meeting this description would be held in great contempt round here, and the idea that they were in any sense “rednecks” would be laughable. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/42 "2010-09-21T19:38:16Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > … ( **MTCicero** ’s grouping of “97% of the African American population” with “goddamn white trash” is pretty direct here)… Precisely. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/43 "2010-09-21T20:47:07Z")
> [@Penrose](#): > > I don’t think he is funny at all (noting that I am not in his target audience), but I genuinely admire what he has done. He circumvented the suits in Hollywood and found success building his own media empire. More power to him, And he did it by marketing to a demographic that goes largely ignored by Hollywood. Turns out that market segment has money and is willing to spend it. The movies aren’t good, but there’s a dearth of movies that are good that are being sold to the socially conservative/religious African American audience (the same could be said for the socially conservative/religious audience regardless of race which is why those horrid Kirk Cameron movies get made) so his competition is non-existent. So good for him for finding a niche and filling it and making a ton of money doing that. But no, not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/44 "2010-09-21T21:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I guess he comes across as so many Black guys I know, raised in the church, with similar mannerisms, worldview, and so on. It’s just a vibe I get. And absolutely, he has that thing where he understands women _way_ too well. Like he idolizes them, sees the feminine ideal as his grandma/mama, and can’t relate to them romantically. And the church thing means he suppresses his gayness, so he’s almost asexual. He might be a “down low” brother. [/QUOTE] He’s also taken to referring to his significant others (past- I don’t think he’s involved at the moment) as “significant others” and other general neutral terms, and when asked if gay gave the “I don’t discuss my private life one way or the other” answer that usually means “I’m gay”. It’s to his credit that if he is gay he doesn’t lie about it (as Aiken and others did before coming out), but my gaydar is fully in the pink and it has nothing to do with M’dea. (M’dea isn’t a character most drag queens would play- she’s not glam enough.) ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/45 "2010-09-21T21:14:04Z")
He’s BFFs with Janet and Mariah. If he isn’t gay then he’s stealing my gay man dream! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/46 "2010-09-21T21:17:33Z")
[QUOTE=spark240] On the other hand, “white trash” seems explicitly racist (that is, anti-black) because it is based on the notion that a white person _in similar roles_ to a black person (i.e., servants, sharecroppers, menial laborers) is thereby distinguished from other white folks. _More like black_ = trash ( **MTCicero** ’s grouping of “97% of the African American population” with “goddamn white trash” is pretty direct here). [/QUOTE] Where I grew up (rural central Alabama) white trash had/has less to do with socioeconomic standing (though most are poor) than things like morality, work ethic, etc.. A family that’s struggling and on welfare and food stamps but good salt of the earth people would _ **not** _ be considered white trash; a woman who has three kids by three fathers and has been to jail for check forgery and whose current baby daddy in residence is a dog fighter would be white trash. They’re white and they’re trash hence “white trash”. (I’m not defending any use of the N-word, but it’s true that while many used it interchangeably with black or colored [which was rarely used as a pejorative] there really are some who used it only for “black trash”, and “white trash” is a pejorative and equivalent of that [dishonest, thieving, amoral, substance problems, domestic violence, etc.]). White trash are not necessarily poor. Jerry Lee Lewis has earned millions and is still worthy of the term, and when Roseanne and Tom Arnold married they actually said “we’re everybody’s worst nightmare: white trash with money!” at the reception, to which many responded “Yup”. Of course this is regional and there are variations. The term _cracker_ is the same: in Florida and the Gulf region of other states as well as south Georgia ‘Cracker’ wasn’t pejorative: it meant “white yeoman farmers”- i.e. poor white- while in other areas it’s on par with white trash. For _True Blood_ fans, Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress at a honky tonk, relatively uneducated, usually broke or close to it, lives in a run down old house and drives an old beat up car, but she’s a good person- nobody would call her white trash. Her brother Jason kind of has friends in both camps, while his co-worker Hoyt is a redneck. Sam Merlotte’s birth family _would_ be considered white trash but due less to their poverty (in the rural south as in most agricultural reasons where people were historically dependent upon the weather and rainfall and things beyond their control it was generally accepted that any family can become impoverished) but to their amorality (dog fighting, prison, skipping out on bills, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/47 "2010-09-21T21:28:45Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [QUOTE=spark240] > On the other hand, “white trash” seems explicitly racist (that is, anti-black) because it is based on the notion that a white person _in similar roles_ to a black person (i.e., servants, sharecroppers, menial laborers) is thereby distinguished from other white folks. _More like black_ = trash ( **MTCicero** ’s grouping of “97% of the African American population” with “goddamn white trash” is pretty direct here). Where I grew up (rural central Alabama) white trash had/has less to do with socioeconomic standing (though most are poor) than things like morality, work ethic, etc.. A family that’s struggling and on welfare and food stamps but good salt of the earth people would _ **not** _ be considered white trash; a woman who has three kids by three fathers and has been to jail for check forgery and whose current baby daddy in residence is a dog fighter would be white trash. [/quote] Are these not also “black” roles or circumstances? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/48 "2010-09-21T21:47:20Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Sampiro](#): > > > > Where I grew up (rural central Alabama) white trash had/has less to do with socioeconomic standing (though most are poor) than things like morality, work ethic, etc.. A family that’s struggling and on welfare and food stamps but good salt of the earth people would _ **not** _ be considered white trash; a woman who has three kids by three fathers and has been to jail for check forgery and whose current baby daddy in residence is a dog fighter would be white trash. > > Are these not also “black” roles or circumstances? Are you asking if blacks are guilty of welfare fraud and drug abuse and the like? There are certainly blacks who would qualify just as there are Filipinos and Sioux, but they’re not the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/49 "2010-09-21T22:07:07Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > > [@Penrose](#): > > > > I don’t think he is funny at all (noting that I am not in his target audience), but I genuinely admire what he has done. He circumvented the suits in Hollywood and found success building his own media empire. More power to him, > > And he did it by marketing to a demographic that goes largely ignored by Hollywood. Turns out that market segment has money and is willing to spend it. I know how frustrating it was being gay and never seeing gay characters on screen unless they were comic relief or homicidal, and how irritating it is seeing so many affluent urbanites (which is Del Shores’ appeal- he writes working class small town southern white families so well). I’m guessing many black people get tired of having to go to a comedy to see black people on the big screen. Ironically there are probably more movies now with gays as mainstream lead characters than there are with black mainstream lead characters. Outside of Tyler Perry films I can’t remember the last really big romantic comedy with a mostly black cast. I wonder how long before somebody becomes a multimillionaire by making movies for the U.S. Latin-American market (which is as large as the black market [give or take some overlap]) and if, when they do, if the movies will be in English or in Spanish. (There are of course hit Spanish language movies and movies with Spanish speaking U.S. residents as main characters but none have really become huge hits in the mainstream.) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/50 "2010-09-21T22:12:48Z")
Not funny at all. So unfunny that just his very presence in the not even supposed to be funny Star Trek almost ruined the movie. Okay, that’s a big exaggeration, but still, not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/51 "2010-09-21T22:12:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Are you asking if blacks are guilty of welfare fraud and drug abuse and the like? There are certainly blacks who would qualify just as there are Filipinos and Sioux, but they’re not the norm. No, no, I meant _stereotypically_ “black” circumstances. I’m just extending my earlier suggestion that “white trash” is, IME, a description of white people who conform to some combination of negative racist stereotypes about black people. I can understand **MTCicero** calling his neighbors “white trash” (not “rednecks”) by _that_ standard–which is not to say that I approve of the term or the standard. As for whether such people find Tyler Perry funny… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/52 "2010-09-22T04:17:32Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > … ( **MTCicero** ’s grouping of “97% of the African American population” with “goddamn white trash” is pretty direct here)… > > Precisely. According to Dopers, I’m a racist now? Oh, for fuck’s sake! Nothing like runaway, rampant white guilt, is there (even when it’s practiced by persons of African American descent)? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/53 "2010-09-22T04:24:28Z")
Re-reading through this thread, people such as **spark240** , **Sampiro** , and **Nzinga, Seated** have me rethinking my devotion to liberal ideals. IME, they are to the left what persons such as Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin are to the right. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/54 "2010-09-22T04:35:20Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Re-reading through this thread, people such as **spark240** , **Sampiro** , and **Nzinga, Seated** have me rethinking my devotion to liberal ideals. IME, they are to the left what persons such as Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin are to the right. I can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/55 "2010-09-22T04:41:37Z")
But I call Palin! No way am I speaking out against masturbation. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/56 "2010-09-22T04:55:16Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > But from reading this thread’s title, I thought you wanted us to take a stab at the kinds of people who actually _do_ find the man funny. And my answer to that would be: Seemingly 97% of the African American population Well, that’s definitely wrong. 97% of the African American population don’t even know who Tyler Perry is. I only found out through my wife, and that was just a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/57 "2010-09-22T05:06:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > Other than dressing as a woman for the Medea character, what makes youcall him a closet case? (That’s not a rhetorical question. I’ve heard the claim before but have seen so little of him I couldn’t say anything about his orientiaton of my own knowledge.) [/quote] That boy is as gay as the day is long. No cite, obviously, but he has the stereotypical mannerisms of a black, gay man in inner turmoil. I think the only reason he hasn’t come out yet is because of how it would impact his pocketbook. Once he’s reached what he feels is his FU money threshold, however, he will come out…and it won’t be a surprise to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/58 "2010-09-22T08:55:41Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > According to Dopers, I’m a racist now? > > Oh, for fuck’s sake! All we can go by is what you say. > [@MTCicero](#): > > I thought you wanted us to take a stab at the kinds of people who actually _do_ find the man funny. And my answer to that would be: Seemingly 97% of the African American population, and goddamn white trash (think: the sort of people who find ICP’s and Soulja Boy’s output to be seriously good music). Any reasonable person would interpret “goddamn white trash” as less than an endorsement, yes? Your subsequent remarks explained that part of your disdain was based on their “hip hop style” and music. What then _is_ anyone to make of a category composed of that, plus “97% of the African American population”? I’ll take you at your word. By the way, while I don’t mind being grouped with **Sampiro** and **Nzinga** , who are good contributors, I’m _hardly_ a flag-carrier for “the left.” And while I despise racism, it’s not out of “white guilt.” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/59 "2010-09-22T09:37:57Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > > They all went to go see Precious together…the whole congregation. > > Crikey. How did they deal with the constant swearing and rape scenes? Similar to how Christians dealt with _Passion of the Christ_. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446/60 "2010-09-22T13:24:58Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Sampiro](#): > > > > Are you asking if blacks are guilty of welfare fraud and drug abuse and the like? There are certainly blacks who would qualify just as there are Filipinos and Sioux, but they’re not the norm. > > No, no, I meant _stereotypically_ “black” circumstances. > > I’m just extending my earlier suggestion that “white trash” is, IME, a description of white people who conform to some combination of negative racist stereotypes about black people. I can understand **MTCicero** calling his neighbors “white trash” (not “rednecks”) by _that_ standard–which is not to say that I approve of the term or the standard. > > As for whether such people find Tyler Perry funny… :dubious: I think you’re off in la-la land here. I don’t consider drug abuse or welfare fraud a “stereotypically black problem”. “White trash” isn’t racist against black people. I grant you that the origin of the term - with the ‘white’ modifier on it - may have spawned from overt or latent racist attitudes that suggested ‘white people are supposed to be better than this’ - but I just don’t see any of that retained in the modern, conventional usage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-finds-tyler-perry-funny/554446.md?page=4)