Tyler Perry defends 'Madea' character over Spike Lee criticism

Director Tyler Perry defended and claimed his portrayal of the character "Madea" is inspired by black women he grew up watching as a child.

"There’s a certain part of our society, especially Black people in the culture that…they look down on certain things within the culture," Perry told Chris Wallace. "For me, I love the movies that I’ve done because they are the people that I grew up with that I represent and they, like, my mother would take me in the projects with her on the weekends, she played cards with these women."

Perry added, "So when someone says, you’re harkening back to a point in our life that we don’t want to talk about or we don’t want the world to see—you’re dismissing the stories of millions and millions of Black people and that’s why I think it’s been so successful because it resonates with a lot of us who know these women."