
Despite entertainment blog reports to the contrary, Intel learned Wednesday that Atlanta director Tyler Perry has not filed suit against the producers of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim animated series, “The Boondocks.”
MediaTakeout.com initially posted a rumor online Tuesday stating that the Atlanta-based entertainment mogul was poised to file suit against “Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder over a recent episode titled, “Pause,” which aired June 20 on the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network.
In the episode of the often savagely satirical series, a Tyler Perry-esque character named Winston Jerome was depicted as a closeted, cross-dressing head of a cult hiding behind his Christian faith.
Jerome’s popular matriarch character, Ma Duke was seen by many as an obvious parody of Perry’s multi-million dollar Madea character.
Perry’s spokeswoman Keleigh Thomas was traveling Wednesday so her boss, Sunshine, Sachs & Associates namesake Ken Sunshine rang us personally.
“There’s not much to say,” Sunshine said. “Just don’t believe anything you read on the blogs. But we’re always happy to speak with legitimate journalists who are interested in doing actual reporting.”
Adult Swim spokesman Tim DeClaire emailed us to say that he was also not familiar with any lawsuit being filed.
Industry insiders speculate, meanwhile, that the buzz on the blogs may have been orchestrated by the frequently impish McGruder. McGruder’s Facebook and Twitter profiles have thus far been silent on the topic.
In an interview with us earlier this year, actress Regina King, who provides the voices of “Boondocks” brothers Huey and Riley on the show, previewed that there might be significant fallout from the pointed Perry-themed episode.
Blog sites posted Tuesday that Perry was pondering a suit to prevent re-airings of the “Pause” episode on Adult Swim.
In the episode, McGruder and co-writer Rodney Barnes save their sharpest swipes for the end when “Boondocks” patriarch Granddad is hit on by the Jerome character.
Granddad angrily asks Jerome: “Do you mean to tell me that this whole cross-dressing Christian crap is just so you can sleep with men?!”
Jerome replies: “Uh, pretty much, yeah.”