Tyler Perry sparks backlash for calling critics 'highbrow' with dated racial term

Tyler Perry is sparking backlash for calling his critics "highbrow" with a dated racial term used to describe Black people.

The movie mogul addressed criticism of his films on the "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer" podcast, telling host Keke Palmer that "a large portion of my fans are disenfranchised, who cannot get in the Volvo and go to therapy on the weekend."

He used the example of a "highbrow" critic "who is all up in the air with his nose up looking at everything," asking critics: "Who are you to be able to say which Black story is important, or should be told? Get out of here with that."

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Perry continued, contrasting his fans against his critics: "Then, you got people like where I come from, and me, who are grinders, who really know what it's like, whose mothers were caregivers for white kids and were maids, housekeepers, beauticians. Don't discount these people and say their stories don't matter."

Perry, whose real-time net worth is $1.4 billion according to Forbes, built a Hollywood dynasty from his controversial depictions of Black life, including the 2005 film "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and the "Madea" movie franchise.

The backlash from Perry's podcast comments was swift. Preston Mitchum, who stars on Bravo's "Summer House: Martha's Vineyard" and is a frequent commentator on racial issues, challenged the industry titan.

"Yes, because writing and producing a movie where a Black woman from a small town cheated on her husband, acquired HIV, then ended up physically disabled is absolutely the groundbreaking Black story we need to see," Mitchum wrote on X, while adding that Perry "is a literal BILLIONAIRE and calling us 'highbrow.'"

Mitchum's comments appear to be in reference to Perry's controversial 2013 film, "Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor." Other X users chided Perry's comments, writing that "the moment you need to call your critics names is the moment you start proving that they're probably right."

Another said that his movies "paint successful women as unwanted and waiting to be saved. I just don't like his work."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tyler Perry sparks backlash after calling critics 'highbrow'