Tyler Perry is still airing out his thoughts about the music industry and its mistreatment of Black women following his recent comments at Angie Stone’s funeral. And let’s just say...he’s still standing ten toes down on his stance.
For context, Perry was selected to give the eulogy at Stone’s funeral a week ago. During his touching sermon, he harped on how he’d grown weary of how Black artists like Stone never really received fair compensation or recognition for all they contributed over the course of their career. He also let on that while he didn’t have a personal relationship to the “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” singer, he paid for all her funeral expenses.
“All of those years, all of those songs, all of that money that was owed to her — where is it? It’s wrong, this is wrong, and I’m tired of seeing us struggle and go through things and work hard and not reap the benefits of what we were supposed to reap,” he said in part, per Atlanta BlackStar.
Now, in a new interview with Extra ahead of the New York premiere of his new film, “Duplicity,” it seems Perry’s sentiments have yet to leave his mind and he brought up other Black women artists and actors who’ve experienced similar trajectories.
“I’m tired of seeing 60-, 70-, 80-year-old women out onstage performing and they’ve been in a business with all these number one hits. I had one that said to me, ‘Well, one day I’ll be a millionaire,’ and had been in the business all of those years,” Perry explained. “It’s heartbreaking for me. That’s why I took care of Cicely Tyson the last 15 years of her life. I’m an empath and I cannot stand to see people mistreated, misused, abused, when it’s so easy to just do the right thing.”
He ended by stressing the importance of doing the right thing for the industry and to abide by the contractual obligations that they present to their clients and roster.