Tyler Perry’s Witness Protection, which is set to hit theaters this Friday, was apparently inspired by Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme. Perry told DnAinfo that the idea came to him as he was thinking about the Madoff case and thought that the best punishment for the convicted scam artist would be to have to live with the character Madea.

UPPER WEST SIDE — The Ponzi-scheme criminal Bernie Madoff seems an unlikely inspiration for the latest offering from movie-maker Tyler Perry.

“I was sitting at dinner with a friend,” explained Perry at last night’s premiere of “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection,” “[and] I was thinking the best punishment for Bernie Madoff would have been having him move in with Madea.”

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