Photo via AJC

See all those workers in the background above? Well apparently they’re still waiting for a check! It’s been reported that super-producer Tyler Perry has accumulated at least 6 liens combined on his personal home and mega movie studio. The Atlanta-based producer is accused of amounting unpaid bills from the two projects that total slightly less than $200,000 and says the costs are “ridiculously unfair” and amount to extortion.

The contractors allege Perry refused to pay their final bills either for no apparent reason or because their work met with his arbitrary disapproval. They say he ordered work redone on impulse, deciding he wouldn’t like the stones purchased for an outdoor fountain, for instance, or deeming newly planted trees too short. “He wanted to do it his way,” said Brooks Hilton, a landscaping contractor who said Perry owes him $17,635. “He wouldn’t take any advice. I guess in Hollywood it works that way, but not in real life.”

Perry, though, said he withheld payment only for shoddy work or for undocumented charges and then only for a handful of the dozens of construction companies he hired. Even those, he said, still got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each before he dismissed them. He sees the contractors’ complaints as a form of extortion and as part of the burden of celebrity. “There’s a Tyler Perry tax that’s put on things,”

Perry said during one of two interviews last week. “I’ve seen the worst of what people can be, the worst of what family members can be,” he said. “I pride myself on taking care of my business. I pride myself on being able to pay the bills.” But “I’m not sympathetic to anybody who’s trying to rip me off. Just because I’m a Christian, just because I’m a nice guy, it doesn’t mean I’m a wimp.” Read More

Perry’s stating that he could afford to pay the disputed bills just to make the conflict disappear, but he feels he’s being targeted because of his wealth. “Every person I know who has come from where I come from and who has had some level of success deals with this: ‘Because you have it, you should give some to me.’ I don’t mind sharing, but don’t try to extort it from me.” Hmmmm? I don’t get it…*scratching head* Tyler’s tripping. These aren’t just people with a hand out, they are contractors who worked his your property. Pay your bills Tyler…this ain’t a good look.