ATLANTA — Tyler Perry says "reverse racism" led some to criticize his TLC drama series "Too Close to Home."
The eight-episode series, about a D.C. operative who seeks shelter from political intrigue in an Alabama trailer park, stars a mostly white cast, including Heather Locklear, Danielle Savre and Brock O’Hurn. O'Hurn also landed a role in Perry’s Halloween comedy “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”
“A reporter asked me this. I’m thinking, 'What the hell?' Stop asking me that damn question. People are people!”
"I'm so sick of folks asking me why I have a show full of white folks," Perry said during an August interview with Atlanta's WALR-FM.
More recently, Perry told The Associated Press that "reverse racism" was the cause of the controversy.
“That’s totally reverse racism, because it was coming from African-American people,” he said. “I don’t know if it was because they thought I should only be giving jobs to black people. Well, I think that’s ridiculous. If you look at the hundreds of black people I’ve given jobs to and even the ones I’ve made millionaires, people of color, I just think it’s unfair.”