Tyler Perry Gets Standing Ovation After Inspiring BET Awards Speech: “Own Your Way”

Tyler Perry may have won the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2019 BET Awards, but he doesn’t want to be known as an “icon” — instead, call him “an inspiration.” On Sunday night, as he accepted his award, Perry delivered a rousing speech about uplifting Black people, particularly in the entertainment industry. The prolific writer, producer, and director urged his peers to “help somebody cross” into the industry and to create opportunities where there are none, as he did with his Atlanta-based studio, once home to a Confederate Army base. “While you’re fighting for a seat at the table, I’ll be down in Atlanta building my own,” said Perry at the end of his inspiring speech.

After thanking BETNetwork — “my new family,” he said, referencing his forthcoming streaming service BET+ — for the honor, Perry dove into the speech with an anecdote about making his mother laugh when she was upset. “There was a power in that that I didn’t really get until I got older,” he said. “My first 10 movies were all about her, subconsciously. Wanting her to know that she was worthy. Wanting Black women to know: you’re worthy. You’re special. You’re powerful. You’re amazing.”

He recalled another moment from his middle-school years, in which an elderly man stood at an intersection asking, “Will someone help me cross?” to those passing by. “I said, ‘I’ll help you cross,'” said Perry. “That moment reminded me of my mother. Bringing her out of pain into laughter to help her cross.”

“When I started hiring people like Taraji, and Viola Davis, and Idris Elba, they couldn’t get jobs in this town,” continued Perry. “But God blessed me to be in a position to be able to hire them. I was trying to help somebody cross.” He added that he chose to build his studio in “a neighborhood that is one of the poorest Black neighborhoods in Atlanta so that young Black kids could see that a Black man did that, and they can do it too.” Continued Perry, “That studio was once a Confederate Army base, which meant that there were Confederate soldiers on that base plotting and planning how to keep 3.9 million negroes enslaved. Now that land is owned by one negro. It’s all about trying to help somebody cross.”

“When everybody was fighting for a seat at the table, talking about, ‘Oscars so white, Oscars so white,’ I said, ‘Y’all go ahead and do that. But while you’re fighting for a seat at the table, I’ll be down in Atlanta building my own,'” said Perry. “Because what I know for sure is that if I can just build this table, God will prepare it for me in the presence of my enemies.”

“Rather than being an icon, I want to be an inspiration. I want you to hear this, every dreamer in this room,” he concluded. “There are people whose lives are tied into your dream. Own your stuff. Own your business. Own your way.”

Watch Perry’s moving BET Awards speech in the clip above.