In a recent cameo on Kenya Barris' Netflix's Black AF series, Tyler Perry questioned why black people feel the need to get approval form white people in the work place. In a clip, Perry tells Barris, “I’m connecting with us. Let me tell you what you’re doing- trying to get them to approve you. That’s what I don’t get! Why are n*ggas running around trying to get white folks- ‘Oh, please tell me I’m special! Please give me your Oscar! Oh, let me know I’m all of these things that you want me to be!'”
He continued, “F*ck that! Tell your story. Live in your own life and in your own culture. Tell your own experience. Can’t nobody tell you how to be you!”
Tyler previously said that Black people need non Black allies in order to make change. He explained, “IT TAKES ALL OF US AS BLACK PEOPLE TO DO OUR PART!! Think about this, please. We’re only 12 to 14 percent of the US population. With a number like that, we need allies that don’t look like us…THERE IS POWER IN TALKING TO THE OTHER SIDE! THERE IS POWER IN BEING HEARD! That’s where we change lives!”