Tyler Perry Donates $500,000 to New York’s Apollo Theater
variety.comWilson Chapman editorTyler Perry announced a donation for $500,000 to the Apollo Theater during the venue’s annual spring benefit gala on Monday.Perry made the announcement during his acceptance speech for the organization’s Impact Award.
Perry was presented the award by Whoopi Goldberg.“My studio [in Georgia] was once a former Confederate-owned army base where there were 3.9 million negroes and slaves at the time, and there were Confederate soldiers plotting and planning how to keep them enslaved,” Perry said. “While now that land is owned by one negro and I know the importance of what it means to honor that and honor the history of what it has been, and what it has been and to redirect it and rechange it.
So it’s very important to me that we all give and support, and with that said, I’d like to give a half-million dollars to make sure this place continues to grow and thrive.” Perry concluded his speech by sharing that 98 percent of the people he paid last year with his $154 million payroll were Black.
He then implored those listening not to give up on their career goals, using his own uplift of Black people in the industry as an example of the good that can come from Black people’s success.“That is the power of us, that is the power of understanding our stories, our messages, whether who gets it or who don’t.
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