is a lot of stuff out today that is 'coonery buffoonery'." When asked if Perry's success among black audiences was a result of just giving black America what they wanted, Lee responded, "the imaging is troubling." In an open letter to Perry on National Public Radio, journalist Jamilah Lemieux, while thanking Perry for "giving black folks jobs in front of and behind the camera," also criticized his shows Meet the Browns and House of Payne. In her letter, she stated that "both your shows are marked by old stereotypes of buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." While she noted his work for its humor and "positive messages of self-worth, love and respect," she later expressed frustration that African-Americans "have been fed the same images of ourselves over and over and over because they sell." Lemieux dismissed his famous Madea character, claiming that "Through her, the country has laughed at one of the most important members of the black community: Mother Dear, the beloved matriarch. ... Our mothers and grandmothers deserve much more than that." While she expressed appreciation toward Perry for dismissing critics' negative comments, Lemieux claimed that "many black folks have expressed some of the very same attitudes about your work that white critics have," and urged him to "stop dismissing the critics as haters and realize that black people need new stories and new storytellers." On January 6, 2020, Perry posted a video on Instagram in which he revealed that he doesn't use a writers room for his films and TV shows and prefers to write his work himself. Perry received criticism from several outlets and figures in entertainment for denying opportunities to up-and-coming black writers. Later that month, Perry responded in an interview by stating that he had experienced issues when working with both WGA writers and nonunion writers. He claims that the WGA writers would submit "scripts that would need rewrites in order to get paid multiple times." He also said that nonunion writers struggled to meet his standards of quality and that he "was unhappy with every single script they wrote" because "they were not speaking to the voice." Response In October 2009, during a 60 Minutes interview, Perry was read a quote of Spike Lee's comments about his work and responded, "I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base. ... That pisses me off. It is so insulting.