Tyler Perry, blasted for casting white actors, says "People are people"

Tyler Perry is taking some static for the mostly white cast of new drama "Too Close to Home," and he's over it. "I'm so sick of folks asking me why I have a show full of white folks," Perry said during an interview this week with Tom Joyner's morning show, which airs weekdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m. on Kiss 104.1. Listen to the clip below.

"A reporter asked me this. I'm thinking what the hell? Stop asking me that damn question. People are people!"

Credit: Getty Images

Credit: Getty Images

The scripted series, about a small-town girl who ends up ensnared in romantic-political intrigue at the highest levels, airs on TLC.

MORE: Tyler Perry's shoutout to Hillary Clinton from the Oval Office

Perry began the interview in his Madea voice, riffing on squabbles that can happen when someone sits in other person's long-held pew in church, then launched into the controversy over white actors without being asked about it. He's apparently getting asked about it quite a bit, and addressed a recent question with humor.

"What's it like working with white people?" he said he was asked. His response: "Well, white people are so damn difficult! The whole room just fell out laughing."

"It's such a great show. I'm just asking my folks to watch it, to check it out .. if you're not too prejudiced. I'm joking," he said, cracking himself and the radio team up. "It's only eight episodes but it's really, really a good show. Listen, if Donald Trump can pitch to black people in an all-white neighborhood, why can't you watch my show. What the hell have you got to lose? It's gonna be huge!"

Listen to the radio clip here.

Here's a trailer from the show:

 Kiss 104.1, like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is part of the Cox Media Group.