A thought on Tyler Perry, ownership, and why we sometimes feel like our opinion belongs in somebody else's business.
I'm on Threads, and y'all know I fucks with Tyler Perry.
I love Tyler Perry. I'm Tyler Perry’s unpaid publicist!
For real, though, I like what he built. As an author and someone who relates to his upbringing, I respect the work he's done. So whenever I see people trying to tear it down, I'ma ALWAYS have something to say about it.
So I came across a post from a woman talking about Tyler Perry and his studio.
Her argument, basically, was: Tyler Perry created this whole platform around himself. If he's the writer, producer, and director behind so much of what he creates, what happens when he's gone?
What happens to the studio?
What happens to the brand?
How does everything continue if he doesn't bring other writers onto his team to build something that can exist without him?
And I sat there thinking...
Why are we worried about that?
Of all the wickedness in the world today, you worried about what Tyler Perry gon' do with HIS studio, that HE built with his OWN money?
It's His. He can do what he wants.
Maybe he wants his brand to continue after he's gone... Maybe he doesn't... Maybe he already has a plan for what happens to the studio when he's no longer here.
Since you got your degree. And you know everything F***ing thing.
Honestly, though? That's nobody's business.
We don't actually know what somebody has planned for something they built unless they tell us. And even if they did tell us, we still don't have the right to tell them what to do. Or even be mad about it. What the hell?
When Did Your Opinion Become Part of the Business Plan?
This is something I've noticed way before I sniffed out that thread about Tyler Perry.
People get real comfortable telling other people what they should do with things they created.
Their business. Their money. Their career. Their relationship. Their life.
I think there's a difference between saying, "I personally wouldn't do it that way," and acting like the person making the decision is doing something wrong because they didn't choose what you would have chosen.
You don't have to understand somebody's vision to respect that it's theirs.
That's the part I think we forget.
You Don't Have to Build It the Way I Would
If I spend years building something from the ground up, I get to decide what happens to it.
Maybe somebody else thinks I should expand it. Maybe they think I should bring in more people.
That's their opinion. But it's still my creation. And I don't owe anybody the version of my dream that makes the most sense to them.
That's especially true when we're talking about creative work.
Artists are allowed to be weird. Writers are allowed to write differently. Directors are allowed to have their own process.
Not everything has to be built according to somebody else's idea of what the "right" way looks like.
Sometimes the whole point of creating something is that you get to decide what it becomes.
Having an Opinion Doesn't Mean You're Entitled to a Say
I'm not saying people can't have opinions.
Of course we can. I'm writing this because I have an opinion.
Talk about the movies. Talk about the business. Critique the work. That's part of being a public figure, especially when you put your work out into the world.
But there's a difference between discussing something and acting like you have some kind of ownership over the decision.
You can say, "I don't like how he's doing that." Fine.
You can say, "I think the studio would be stronger if he brought in more writers." Okay.
But at some point, you have to remember: You don't own it. You don't have to agree with somebody's choices to recognize that they're allowed to make them. And maybe that's the part we need to get better at.
Not every decision needs our approval.
Sometimes you can look at somebody else's choices, Harlem shake, and keep scrolling.
Because at the end of the day... It ain't your shit.
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