Tyler Perry faced backlash from Instagram followers after he erroneously claimed former President Barack Obama was a descendant of American slaves.
In his haste to celebrate his friend Barack’s 62nd birthday, Tyler wrote in an emotional Instagram post:
“This photo was taken at my house. I bought these chairs from an auction because they belonged to Abraham Lincoln. We both sat in them and had a conversation.
“I wondered when [Lincoln] freed the slaves could he have imagined that one day a descendant of those slaves would become president of the United States. Only in our America and with all of her flaws.. what a great country we live in and we must fight to keep our democracy. Happy Birthday to you President @barackobama.”
The reaction was swift as Tyler’s IG followers and Black Twitter users informed him that Barack’s Black descendants are from the Motherland.
Tyler went back and edited his post, removing the erroneous information.
One fan tweeted:
“Tyler Perry did the right thing by deleting that hyper-misinformation tweet claiming Obama as a descendant of slavery. Lineage consciousness is critical.”
Tyler Perry did the right thing by deleting that hyper-misinformation tweet claiming Obama as a descendant of slavery. Lineage consciousness is critical.
— Maxwell Little, M.Ed ?? (@MaxHPF) August 6, 2023
Another person wrote, “Tyler knows better, that’s why he deleted the crap!”
Twitter user @HarrietEve9 was offended that the famed director didn’t apologize for the disrespect:
“Perry has now deleted the fraudulent tweet — but he did not offer an apology to the Descendants of American Chattel Slaves for his disrespect.. If only Tyler Perry regarded Descendants of American Chattel Slavery in the same regards as he hold the Jewish community — and the Holocaust — would there be an immediate apology for his disrespect… Meanwhile, Trick Baby is a 1972 Blaxploitation film that immediately captures the moment… #ReparationsNow.”
