When Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries, movie fans seized on the irony of its timing. Not only was it just 72 days after her wedding, it also came shortly after her casting in Tyler Perry's next film, "The Marriage Counselor."
There has been plenty of uproar and resentment toward Kim -- many fans feel used or, that her marriage was a profit-driven sham -- and thanks to his casting, Perry has received some blowback himself. Commenters flooded into his website, demanding that Kim's part (the glitzy friend of a matchmaker) be recast. Kardashian's scenes, though, have already been shot, and Perry defended keeping her in the film.
"I knew that this message was not only for my age group, but for all audiences, especially the youth," he wrote on his blog. "ESPECIALLY THE YOUTH!! YOUNG FOLKS NEED TO SEE THIS!!! And not just the young people that follow me, but the young people that are following other young people, as well."
And Kardashian, he wrote, is one of the most influential public figures in the eyes of teenagers.
"I said to one of my producers, who else is out there that young people are looking up to?' One of my producers showed me pictures that his daughter had taken of several hundred kids lined up around the corner to get into a Kardashian store," Perry continued. "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. To have the young people that look up to her, see her in a film that is about, what happens in life when you make the wrong choices."
The picture also stars Brandy, Vanessa Williams, Jurnee Smolett and Robbie Jones.