Raffy Ermac recently sat down with Tyler Perry & Brandon Black to discuss Netflix's A Madea Homecoming.

In this pride spotlight, Raffy chatted with longtime writer and director Tyler Perry, in addition to actor Brandon Black, about the new Netflix film A Madea Homecoming, which features the first out gay character in the Madea franchise's history.

They talked about what it was like introducing out queer characters to the beloved long-running movie franchise. Black shared that it was "refreshing" to watch his character Tim have a coming-out storyline that wasn't based on trauma and shame.

He said,

"That was the main thing that excited me for the movie was that Tim is anticipating one thing to happen and then his family is like 'child anyways.' You know, it was so cool to me to see that in this movie... because we see so many other examples of trauma and shame, which those things exist as well, but this is also a viable option."

Perry talked about the intentionality of writing a storyline that showcases Queer people having loving and accepting families.

He shared,

"I've done work over the years with the covenant house, and I've seen a lot of kids who were LGBTQ+ who were put out of their houses and homeless because they came out to their family... Especially in our community, we have a way of being behind the curve on everything, so I just wanted to show a family that just embraced with love, someone who's coming out. And I'm hoping that is a message to many many people and many families."

Although Tim is the first out queer character in the Madea universe, there's always been an inherent queerness to playing Madea. Some people even say it's the first time they've seen a character in drag.

Perry said,

"I've always approached it from the point of view of just as an actor like Mrs. Doubtfire or Eddie Murphy with the clumps or something, that's always the only way that I've ever approached it. So, to have people embrace it from so many different walks of life, it's just been fantastic to me... I love it."

To catch the complete interview with Perry and Black, make sure to head to Out.com.