You’re never going to believe this, but there was a time in my life where I thought Madea, the elderly woman played by Tyler Perry in drag, was hilarious. During my middle school days, Perry was a household name in Black families as an urban playwright. I never made it to one of his sold-out shows, but bootleg versions of the DVD releases always found their way into my home. Adorned in his wig, muumuu, and huge fake breasts, Perry parlayed his way into the multimillion dollar film empire that is still thriving today. And my naive younger self, with very little of the Black feminist sensibilities I have today, laughed right along with the rest of his audience. There was something wrong with what I was accepting as entertainment, something that spoke to the physical being of myself and all of the other women in my family. As a male comedian, Perry was offering an offensive and problematic representation of plus-sized Black women to the masses. And this representation did not start or end with Madea.