by Jeroslyn JoVonn

January 26, 2023

Actor Recounts ‘Traumatic’ Experience Filming ‘Meet The Browns’ With Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry is being called out by one actor who revealed the “traumatic” experience he had while filming an episode for Meet The Browns playing a role that Perry allegedly at the last-minute decided would be gay.

An actor and voice coach, Brandin Jay took to TikTok on Wednesday to open up about how filming just one episode of Perry’s Meet The Browns turned into “the most stressful and hardest experience” of his life.

According to Jay, a day on Perry’s show set is more “drastic” than the typical one-episode shoot. The actor says episodes are usually shot in one week. However, at Tyler Perry Studios, they’re shot in one day.

In addition to the tight shooting schedule, Jay accuses Perry of making last-minute changes to the scripts the actors had to memorize before each shoot. Jay had auditioned for and was playing the role of Geoffrey, a stout high school teenager who was being bullied at school.

@brandinjay Filming Meet The Browns Storytime! Like for Part 2. #meetthebrowns❤️ #meetthebrowns🎥 #tylerperry #mrbrown #amazonprime #foryoupage #fyp #tiktok #storytime #actingtok #brandinjay ♬ original sound – Brandin Jay

“I take two to three days to learn the entire script,” Jay recounts.

Then on the day of filming the Alfonso Ribeiro-directed episode, Perry walks in, and “everything changes,” Jay claimed.

“So we literally run the entire episode for him and he hates it,” Jay said.

The actor realized Perry’s dislike for the original script would result in everyone being forced to learn new lines of the honcho’s choosing.

“Mr. Perry on the spot starts rewriting the entire script,” Jay claims while “feeding” the young actor the lines he had to perfect right there on the spot.

Jay claims the director urged him to learn the new impromptu lines or else he would be fired. While rising to the occasion to learn the new lines, Jay claims Perry decided that his character would be gay and have a crush on his high school bully.

The drastic plot change wasn’t what Jay had originally auditioned for.

“‘I want Geoffrey to be gay and he has a crush on his bully,'” Jay claims Perry said.

In part two uploaded on Thursday, Jay adds to the story to reveal his initial response to being told his character would now have to be gay. Jay says he reached out to his agent who told him that he does not have to take the role if he doesn’t feel comfortable playing a new role he never signed on for.

But after some long thought, Jay says it was an opportunity he didn’t want to pass on. He decided to play the role despite Perry’s last-minute decision to turn the character gay.

@brandinjay Part 2 Storytime of filming MEET THE BROWNS! Like for part 3! #meetthebrowns #tylerperry #meetthebrowns❤️ #meetthebrowns🎥 #actingtok #storytime #amazonprime #brandinjay #fyp #foryoupage #mrbrown #tamelamann ♬ original sound – Brandin Jay

After the “story time” surfaced on Twitter, Jay received mixed responses from people who felt like he was complaining about an acting gig that experienced the last-minute script changes that are known to take place on sets.


×