LOS ANGELES — The evening that Tyler Perry is calling one of his “most heartbreaking” happened eight months ago. But the memory is still fresh — and hurtful.
“I felt the pain of the Black people in the room,” Perry recalled. “It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had in a room full of Hollywood people.”
Perry, the phenomenally successful filmmaker and head of a massive media empire, was referring to this year’s Oscars ceremony, specifically the jaw-dropping moment at the Dolby Theatre — and on the global telecast — when Will Smith leaped from his seat, went onstage and struck Chris Rock moments after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Less than an hour later, Smith mounted the stage again, this time making a tearful but awkward reference to the attack as he accepted the lead actor award for “King Richard.”
