Tyler Perry Defends Choosing Kim Kardashian for ‘Temptation,’ Calls Her a Role Model?

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Big time filmmaker Tyler Perry has accumulated a lot of success and wealth thanks to his plays and extremely popular films that are usually targeted to African-Americans. Although he continues to catch a lot of flak for not coming up with more diverse story lines, when he does have a movie in theaters, the movies are generally a commercial success, keeping Tyler as one of the most current forces to be reckoned with in black film. Tyler’s clearly no stranger to controversy, but his recent decision to add Kim Kardashian to his new movie Temptation hasn’t been well received by most of his longtime supporters.

It’s not really a surprise either considering Kim’s rise to fame was an “adult tape” with her ex boyfriend Ray J. However, Tyler says he didn’t know who the reality star was prior to her appearance in the film, and now that he knows more about her and her background, he feels selecting her for the role was a smart decision. Tyler Perry not only believes Kim will bring more people out to see the film, but he also feels she was perfect for the part because he feels she can be a role model to young girls. He writes on his website:

“I said to one of my producers, ‘who else is out there that young people are looking up to? One of them showed me pictures that his daughter had taken of several hundred kids lined up around the corner to get into a Kardashian store. They wanted to meet Kim. I thought, what better person! She literally has millions of young people following her.

“I thought and still do think, that it would be very responsible of her to be a part of this film. Millions of young people adore her and are following her every move. If one of those young people see this film and find the strength to live a better life and not go through what these characters went through in this movie, then we have all done what I feel I’m being led to do here.”