Tyler Perry Addresses Past Union-Busting Controversy, Says He Fired Writers "Because They Weren’t Giving Me What I Wanted"

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The director and entertainment mogul shares his side of the controversy that occurred after he allegedly fired four writers for unionizing back in 2008.

In 2008, Tyler Perry found himself in headlines after he allegedly fired four writers for unionizing. Now, the director has set the record straight.

READ: What Good Is Tyler Perry’s “History Making” if He Isn’t Hiring Young Black Writers?

In a new interview with Level, Perry offered his side of why he actually fired the writers who were helping him with TBS shows House of Payne and Meet the Browns.

"At the time, I had a bunch of writers who were nonunion, and I was unhappy with every single script they wrote," he said. "They were not speaking to the voice. They just didn’t get it."

"There was a Black woman lawyer I was negotiating with to get WGA [Writers Guild of America] writers on my show," he continued "I told her, 'I can't afford to pay those rates that every other studio pays. I need to structure differently.' It looked like the deal was going to go through so I fired the four writers and prepared to hire new writers through the WGA."

Perry then goes on to dispute how reports at the time said he had fired his previous writers for trying to unionize, saying that he fired them "because they weren’t giving me what I wanted."

"The press says I fired writers who were trying to unionize. Not true, and it pissed me off," Perry said.

The entertainment mogul then recounted the challenges he faced with unionized writers and how he'd still have to pay them multiple times for script rewrites.

"At one point, I thought they were submitting scripts that would need rewrites in order to get paid multiple times. And these are Black people," he said.

"I had a moment where I asked for a rewrite and the writer filed a grievance with the union," he continued. "They felt like I was asking for too many changes and would never accept the script. I was furious."

In related news, Perry recently addressed the viral video of stacks of scripts he admitted to being the sole writer of.

Source: Level