Tyler Perry built his Atlanta studio on a former Confederate Army base

BET Awards 2019

I covered some fashion from last night’s BET Awards earlier – go here to see. BET put a lot of the speeches and performances on YouTube, so I just wanted to highlight some of the biggest moments. I’m not going to post the Cardi lapdance video, but BET really did put so many videos on YouTube – go here to see.

Here’s Lizzo’s AMAZING performance of “Truth Hurts.”

Here’s Mary J. Blige’s epic Lifetime Achievement Award performance. “Real Love,” man. That song gets me every time.

Taraji P. Henson introduced Tyler Perry for the Ultimate Icon Award. She said he was the first director who ever paid her what she was worth: “In a time where my counterparts were making way more than I was … Tyler Perry was the first to pay me my worth. A black man did that and that means the world to me.”

Here’s Tyler Perry’s speech. He talked about being the first director to hire actors like Idris Elba and Viola Davis and Taraji for lead roles and how important that was to him. He also talked about building his studio in Atlanta, on the grounds of a former Confederate Army base, which “meant there were Confederate soldiers on that base, plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million negroes enslaved. Now, that land is owned by one negro.” He talked about how he bought the land for his studio in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Atlanta and he did it so that the youths would see a successful black man and know that they could succeed too.

BET Awards 2019

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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14 Responses to “Tyler Perry built his Atlanta studio on a former Confederate Army base”

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  1. TheBees says:

    Lol. Woo chileeee, I love it!

  2. Ctgirl says:

    Good on him!

    • aiobhan targaryen says:

      Oh, so you realized how tone deaf your original comment was, so you changed it.

      • Ctgirl says:

        No. I changed it because as a historian I realized that I was going too far into the weeds. As someone who lives in Atlanta and actually worked at Fort McPherson, I was thrilled when it was announced that Mr Perry bought the property because he saw potential in an often overlooked neighborhood and he will be a good steward.

  3. Maude says:

    Ft. McPherson arrived long after the Civil War, but it is my understanding there was a confederate base there prior to the Army taking over the space.

    Also, I live in that area, and this dude bought land there for the same reason I bought a house there – you can get a lot of land (or house) for far less money than anywhere else in Atlanta, and the area is shifting/being developed rapidly. The breweries all bought spots there, and new restaurants, and the belt line are there. I mean, the sentiment is nice, but the reality is, there aren’t a lot of areas in Atlanta where you could get that amount of land for so little.

    • aiobhan targaryen says:

      Why are trying to dismiss what this man said? He gave the reason for why he did what he did and you so arrogantly decided that his explanation was not good enough and you come up with your own. Really?

  4. EnnuiAreTheChampions says:

    God I love Lizzo.

  5. aiobhan targaryen says:

    I hate Tyler Perry’s work so much. His writing is cliche, sexist, colorist, and just plain ignorant. And yet I cannot help but be a little happy that he is providing a lot of black talent with opportunities that they did not have before, behind of and in front of the camera. What I am hoping for is that even though I think he and his work is trash, the talent that comes from his movies spawns something better. I wont put too much hope into though.

    • Lala11_7 says:

      I watched an hour-long drama that was filmed at his studio and produced by him this weekend…that was FILLED with dark Brown people…and I have NEVA watched a Tyler Perry drama…but “Ambitions…” got me HOOKED! Yes, colorism IS an issue with Perry…as its an issue for SO MANY Black folks on this planet…but he’s obviously heard and more importantly…HEEDED what folks said about that horror…and has addressed it and bought balance…AND I have found his writing to have gotten better over the years…

      • aiobhan targaryen says:

        I will have to give ambitions a try. I know that it is written by a former soap blogger and stars a few people I actually like.

        I am going by having watched several episodes of the Haves and Have Nots. And that show is horrible in so many ways.

  6. NewKay says:

    I love these comments. People think because Black people smile and get on with life that we forget. There’s no forgetting and I love his explanation, although I agree with everything everyone said about his work. Don’t underestimate the power that is felt in buying something used to oppress our ancestors- the cheap price of the land is just an added bonus.

  7. kerwood says:

    I’m not a Tyler Perry fan but I hope those Confederates’ resting place got a little warmer when he moved in.