Black women lashed out at actor/director Tyler Perry for saying successful women should settle for broke men.
Black women on Twitter/X complain that Tyler has been telling them to date down or settle for broke men for 30 years — and they’re tired of it.
One Twitter/X user wrote: “Tyler Perry’s 30-year obsession with telling Black women what type of man they should want makes a lot more sense when you realize he’s selling his own fantasies and desires of his ideal dude…”
Another person wrote: “Tyler Perry been single my entire life. I ain’t even listening to sh-t he got to say in the first place.”
And a third person wrote: “The fact that black men aren’t even offended by what Tyler Perry said about them is hilarious.”
But the harshest criticism was delivered by TikTok star @jasminesgarden23 who said Tyler struggles “to hold Black men accountable” because he has “unresolved trauma” with his own father.
In a follow-up TikTok video, Jasmine responded to commenters who asked why she was so mad about what Tyler said.
“One of the biggest problems in the Black community right now is y’all want Black women to keep breaking generational curses without it affecting Black men,” said Jasmine. “Y’all don’t wanna have to step up to the plate and be accountable for anything.”
Tyler Perry said high value Black women who earn more money than most Black men should be open to dating those men.
“A lot of women, especially Black women, and I might get in trouble for saying this but I will. In our society right now, Black women are making a lot more money, for the most part, than Black men,” Tyler said on the “Keep It Positive, Sweetie” podcast with Crystal Renee Hayslett.
“If you can find love, if that man works at whatever job and is a good man, and is good to you, and honors you, and honors the house, and honors his wife, and does what he can, because his gift might not be your gift, that is okay.”
Tyler said high value women should date down – even if he can only pay the light bill every month.
“That’s not somebody that’s beneath you. That’s somebody who came to love you at your worth. As long as he’s secure in himself to know that ‘yeah, she makes most of the money, all I can pay is the light bill.’ As long as she’s comfortable enough to say ‘I’m gonna cover the mortgage and all the other stuff.’ That is fine.”
“But that’s so hard for a lot of people to take in,” Tyler said. “But when you talk about just someone to love you and support you. I know people whose men can’t touch what they make. But when you see them together? That love, that support, that ‘I got you, babe,’ it’s a beautiful thing.”
Tyler continued, “You gotta remove the money from the situation, because it’s just gonna cloud it… I’m telling you, there are some good men who can’t meet you at your net worth.”
“If you try to make it about the money then it’s always gonna be about the money,” he added.
Watch the video below.