Filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry rebuffed the notion that he should be talking to his seven-year-old son about race, noting his child’s innocence.
“Every time I talk to a Black man who has a son, I ask: ‘How do you protect your child? What do you teach your child about becoming a man?'” an AARP reporter asked Perry during an interview published this month.
“I haven’t had the conversation with Aman because he’s only 7, and I want to hold out as long as I can,” Perry responded.
“I don’t want to tell him that there are people who will judge him because of the color of his skin, because right now he’s in a school with every race, and all these kids are in their purest form,” he explained. “When he describes his friends, he never defines them by race.”
“The moment he loses that innocence is going to be a very, very sad day for me,” Perry said. “I know it’s coming, though, because he’s already asking some really tough questions.”
“What I want him to be, more than anything, is somebody who sees injustice, speaks out against it and affects change,” he added.
During the same interview, Perry said he tries to shield his son from the public as much as he can.
“My son’s not famous,” the 52-year-old said. “I want him to have as normal a life as he can. I want him to know what it’s like to have his own name and his own life and not have the pressure of trying to live up to whatever or whoever your father was.”
Perry, who is liberal in his politics, has somewhat veered from the “acceptable” mainstream narrative in several areas, including how he feels about law enforcement.
At last year’s Oscars, the “Temptation” creator denounced hate, including hatred of police officers.
Perry, accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, told viewers, “In this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour news cycle … it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids, and I want to remember: just refuse hate. Don’t hate anybody.”
“I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican or because they are black or white or LBGTQ,” the producer said. “I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian.”
"Refuse hate."
Tyler Perry accepts Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award "I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican or because they are Black or white or LBGTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian." pic.twitter.com/FjpTaYhKUu
— ABC News (@ABC) April 26, 2021
Similarly, in 2020, Perry seemed to counter-signal the radical “defund the police” movement.
“Lately, I’ve been very, very concerned that the message is being hijacked by some other groups or political ads and parties that are trying to stop the message of what we’re asking for here [is] police reform, right?” the actor said, referring to activism in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. “So, yeah, I was, but I’m worried now because of what I’m seeing.”
Speaking of the “defund the police” movement, Perry continued: “Well, when I first heard it, I was troubled by it, and I thought okay, this is — this is going to be weaponized by — in this political year. I completely thought that that was happening. That’s exactly what’s happened. It’s been weaponized,” he said. “But I did some research. And what I would challenge people to do is do research and find out what it means. Now, you’ve got to understand this — I’m not for taking money from the police department. I think we need more police. My studio is in a neighborhood where I think we need police. … But we don’t need police that have — that are under-trained. And you’ve got to understand — I have really close friends who are police officers that I love dearly, who are really good people, who have been very, very hurt by this, as well.”
Related: Tyler Perry’s Oscar Speech Goes Viral: ‘I Refuse To Hate Someone Because They Are A Police Officer’