It’s been more than a month since Tyler Perry made waves by proclaiming he’s the sole writer of many of his current and upcoming shows. Now, comedian Lil Rel Howery is adding his voice to the chorus of critics who say the Atlanta-based mogul should diversify his one-man writers room.
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On the subject of giving back after achieving career success, Howery explained on Deadline's “New Hollywood Podcast” that he looked out for the comics he met on his rise to stardom. The comedian, whose remarks were recorded at an event with the African-American Film Critics Association, said there’s no one way to give back and noted that people should “just give back if you want to. It ain’t rocket science.”
“That’s why I can’t ... you know, I love Tyler Perry and I’m proud of him,” he began. “But ... I told myself I’m a say something because I don’t agree with that. I don’t understand. You can’t write a show called ‘Sistas’ and you’re not a sista. So you don’t want no suggestions or nothing?
“I know we talk a good game about ‘This is what I’m doing, I’m doing this, I’m doing that.’ Once again, I’m talking, but I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” he continued. “Now, I don’t have what he got yet, but as I climb up here, I’m a do even more of that. We gotta do better, man. It’s all talk, but if you’re really on that, then give people jobs, bro. You can’t base nothing on one writers’ room, brother. That means you didn’t hire good writers. Find more writers! That’s just real.”
» RELATED: Tyler Perry says he once had a writer's room, then this happened
Howery’s remarks followed similar responses from Perry’s social media followers when he shared a video in January of a stack of scripts — including ones for the BET comedy-drama “Sistas,” about a group of female friends experiencing the ebb and flow of life.
“I don’t know if you know this, but all shows on television have a writers room and most of the time there are ten people, 12, whatever that write on these television shows,” Perry said in the video as he panned across scripts for eight shows. “I have no writers room. Nobody writes any of my work. I write it all.”
Several of his followers urged him to give other writers a shot at scripting his projects. However, while promoting his Netflix thriller, “A Fall From Grace,” Perry explained he once had a writers room, but things fell apart.
“What people don’t know is that early on, I had a writer’s room and it was a nightmare for me. It was a real nightmare for me,” Perry said to Essence magazine. “Not only that, they were turning in scripts that didn’t speak to my audience and my ratings took a dip. My audience knows my voice. They want to hear from me. They want to hear what I’m saying.”
Perry has yet to publicly respond to Howery’s remarks.
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