Media tycoon Tyler Perry expressed his opinion on the move to remove the police that has gained notoriety since national protests against police brutality began in late May. The actor said he does not support “taking money from the police department” and proclaimed that “we need more police.”
Perry appeared in “Anderson Cooper 360” Wednesday night, where he intervened in the controversial debate on the dismissal of the police.
“You have to understand this: I’m not about to take money from the police department,” Perry told CNN host Anderson Cooper. “I think we need more police.”
“My studio is in a neighborhood where I think we need police,” said Perry. “But we don’t need untrained police officers.”
Perry’s $ 250 million film production facility, one of the largest studios in the United States, is located in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. In 2015, Perry purchased 330 acres of property that was formerly the Fort McPherson U.S. Army base, which was controlled by the Confederate government after Georgia’s secession in 1861.
“I think we need the police. I know I need the police,” Perry continued. “I have several that work for me here in the studio. We need them. But we need them refurbished. We need them well trained, we need the right structure.”
“I became very, very optimistic when everyone cheered up together, because I know that’s when the change comes,” Perry said of the brutality movement against police across the country following the death of George Floyd. “When people galvanize and unite as one, that’s when change happens. But lately, I’ve been very concerned that the message is being hijacked by other groups, or ads and political parties trying to stop the message. What we are asking for here is a police reform ”
“When I first heard it, it bothered me,” Perry said of the move to remove the police. “I thought, ‘OK, this will be armed in this political year.’ I completely thought that was happening, that’s exactly what happened. It has been armed.”
“I really understand some of the things within the police,” said the billionaire entertainment mogul. “Like having officers who are clinically trained to deal with certain situations. I think all of those things are helpful, but taking money from the police department to make the police department smaller, that worries me.”
“We need the police …” says director, producer and actor @tylerperry. “… But we need them reformed, we need them … https://t.co/jed9uhweMT
– CNN (@CNN) 1596084420.0
In June, Perry wrote an essay in People magazine on police brutality.
“The level of racism and brutality that George Floyd faced is something that we as black people know very well,” Perry wrote. “When I saw that video, I had so many raw, guttural emotions. I felt for him and his family, I felt for all of us as black people, I felt for my five-year-old son.”
In July, Perry partnered with Atlanta Police Department officers to personally deliver 1,000 gift cards for the Kroger supermarket chain to Atlanta residents.
“It is about the community I love, where I live and work. It is about good people who need help, not help,” Perry told ET. “It’s about the good cops who do their jobs well every day, some of whom are my personal friends.”
“It’s about trying to unite unity in a city that adopted me and held me high enough to reach my own branch in the tree of success,” said Perry. “I love Atlanta and its people!”
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