Singer-actress brushes off criticism over her role in movie

ASSOCIATED PRESS
While Queen Latifah isn't willing to compromise herself for her music, there were some critics who felt she did just that in her acting career with last year's blockbuster "Bringing Down the House," co-starring Steve Martin. Although it grossed more than $130 million, some (including Spike Lee) felt her role as a jive-talking con who shakes up Martin's whitebread world was stereotypical. "Boondocks" mastermind Aaron McGruder skewered her endlessly in his comic strip, while others questioned her judgment.
Latifah didn't see a reason to apologize -- and still doesn't.
"I can't be worried about that. To me, I would rather push the envelope a little bit, go right to the edge, as long as it's funny. If it ain't funny, you can forget about it anyway," she says, comparing herself to comedians like Red Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg and Richard Pryor, who used race in their acts to talk about cultural barriers.
"I think there were some over-the-top things in the movie, but I don't think there was anything extremely stereotypical that was that offensive. I'm not trying to make some major political statement.
"It's easy for people outside of what we do to talk about it, but they don't see the real battles that we fight everyday, that we break down stereotypes ... There's really nobody out there that could tell me anything. Because they don't see those battles."