WGA PROTEST WILL SMITH, OPRAH WINFREY SYDNEY POITIER JOIN TYLER PERRY ATLANTA TV & MOVIE STUDIO LAUNCH MAKES HISTORY

Congrats to Tyler Perry. He made history by becoming the first African-American to own a TV and film studio. 

The studio opening was met with controversy when fired WGA writers protested and picketed the event.

The Writers Guild of America, West is taking on the fight for justice of writers who were fired when they tried to get a union contract with Tyler Perry’s production company, House of Payne, LLC. The Guild today filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that House of Payne unlawfully fired four writers in retaliation for their union activity. The charge also alleges that the company bargained in bad faith with the Guild, which is seeking to negotiate a contract covering the writers on Perry’s cable television series House of Payne and Meet the Browns. source

SAG National Board member and TV actress Anne-Marie Johnson made this statement public on the Writers Guild website: " "As a unionist and 11-year National Board member of the Screen Actors Guild, I was extremely disappointed to hear about the current situation facing the four fired House Of Payne writers. As an actor who occasionally appears on Mr. Perry's show, I am conflicted and angry. I realize that speaking publicly in support of the writers will jeopardize my recurring role, but Mr. Perry's firing of writers, for negotiating for fair WGA coverage, including health insurance, does not speak well for a man who claims to believe in family, pride in one's race and artistic equality. It's time he steps up to do the right thing." source

Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, John Legend, Barry Bonds, Tracey Edmonds, Nicole Ari-Parker, Boris Kodjo, Holly Robinson-Pete, Eva Pigford, Lance Gross, Patti La Belle, Cicley Tyson and Ruby Dee were at the event.

History was made Saturday night, when Tyler Perry became the first African-American ever to launch his own major TV and film studio.

But that wasn't the only reason Will Smith was tipping his hat to Perry at the gala Atlanta event in the old Delta Airlines headquarters that now serve as Perry's studio.

"I admire most that he can be that tall and wear a white suit," said Smith, 40, never to waste a punch line. "I usually have to avoid white. At this height, you don't tend to look sexy in white suits, but he pulled it off."

The same could be said when it came to Perry's impressive guest list, which brought out the top names from past and present Hollywood and other spheres of influence: Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett, Jr., Holly Robinson Peete, Tracey Edmonds, music mogul L.A. Reid, singer John Legend, America's Next Top Model winner Eva Pigford, not to mention baseball legends Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds – among others. "I spent 56 years making movies and this is the reward that I have that means the most to me," said Poitier, 81, the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar, for 1963's Lilies of the Field.

A New Orleans native with a troubled childhood, Perry, 39, credited all of his guests with inspiring his life. Of Winfrey, who attended the celebration with longtime beau Stedman Graham and best friend Gayle King, Perry said, "She owns her life. I am learning that. I never would have shown this to people a few years ago. I was embarrassed by the success." source