Black actors and actresses’ public display of gratitude for Tyler Perry’s support is ongoing.
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Meagan Good shared on NBC’s “Today With Hoda & Jenna” that Perry was the first person to properly compensate her throughout her three-decade career. While Good was anxious to share with Perry what she desired to earn for her leading role in his “Divorce in the Black,” she says that the media mogul was already set on that offer.
“He [Perry] was like ‘You deserve this’ ’cause I was already thinking in my head like, what I was going to ask, and I was like, ‘Oh, is this too much?’” Good recounted.
She continued, “I was like, ‘I don’t want to lose the job.’ ‘Cause I come from that generation when you’re working in the ’90s and 2000s when women ask for something you are perceived to be a certain kind of way or when you show up a certain way. When you’re assertive, you’re perceived to be a certain kind of way… But that’s what I love about Tyler, ’cause he was like, ‘I was already going to give that to you…’ I started crying.”
During the “Divorce in the Black” promo run, Good’s co-star Cory Hardrict sang the same tune of praise for Perry. In an interview with “The Breakfast Club” podcast, the actor revealed that the drama film — directed, written, and produced by Perry — was the most he’s ever earned from a Hollywood gig within his career since the 1990s.
“He paid me the most I’ve ever made in a film for three weeks [of work],” Hardrict told hosts Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy. “And I’ve worked on films five months, $75 million budgets. Three weeks. That’s why I say he’s a gift from God.”
He added, “I had the Brad Pitt, Eddie Murphy trailer like the three levels. I went in there, it had a water bed. I’m saying you could live in the trailer they had for me. That’s how I knew. I said, ‘I’m being valued.’ So, that’s what brought out my best work, being valued.”
In addition to earning his biggest Hollywood check from Perry, Hardrict credits “Divorce in the Black” for “changing” his “career trajectory.” When asked if the pay would set the bar for his future projects, he admitted that he would want his earnings to remain in the same ballpark or even past it.
“I hope so, just being honest,” Hardrict said. “I would love to double that or keep it pushing there and beyond. I feel like I’m on the right track for that.”
Hardrict and Good finally feeling valued this far into their careers comes back to the issue of pay equity in Hollywood. Actresses like Taraji P. Henson — who has also thanked Perry for breaking the standard for her pay — have been outspoken about being lowballed compared to their white counterparts. As AFROTECH™ previously shared, the National Partnership for Women and Families reported that Black actresses typically earn 64 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic male actors make.
While Perry is making continual efforts to pay Black actors and actresses their worth, there is still a lot of work needed from fellow leaders and big-name production companies to ensure it becomes standard rather than an anomaly for Black entertainers to receive what they rightfully deserve.
