Tyler Perry In Epic Oscar Speech: ‘I Refuse To Hate Someone Because They Are A Police Officer’
Tyler Perry’s now-viral Academy Awards speech had an important message: “REFUSE HATE.”
- Tyler Perry urges people to “refuse hate” through his moving Oscars speech.
- The producer emphasized that police officers are not the enemy.
- At the 93rd Oscars ceremony, Tyler Perry accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
While accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Tyler Perry set a different tone at the 93rd Oscars ceremony. The filmmaker urged his audience to “refuse hate” in all of its forms. As the Daily Wire notes, Perry insisted on saying no to hatred towards police officers.
In his moving speech, the 51-year-old actor said:
“In this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour new cycle … it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids, and I want to remember: just refuse hate. Don’t hate anybody.”
Perry continued:
“I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican or because they are Black or white or LBGTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian.”
The producer shared a touching story of how he helped a homeless woman take her “feet off the ground.”
As Perry told the story, the homeless woman approached him, asking whether he has any spare pair of shoes. Then, remembering the days when he was a young black boy owning only a single pair of old shoes, he took her into his studio and helped her find a pair that would fit her. The grateful woman then said: “Thank you, Jesus, my feet are off the ground.”
Last summer, Perry shocked everyone when he rejected calls to “Defund the Police” by BLM activists.
The eminent filmmaker, who is liberal in his politics, stated:
“So, when they saw George Floyd’s death, this horrific, horrible death played out, as this man pleaded for his life and begged, said ‘please’ many, many times, it — seeing it changes everything. So I became very, very optimistic when everybody galvanized together because I know that’s when change comes. When people galvanize and come together as one, that’s when change happens.
But lately, I’ve been very, very concerned that the message is being hijacked by some other groups or political ads and parties that are trying to stop the message of what we’re asking for here [is] police reform, right? So, yeah, I was, but I’m worried now because of what I’m seeing.”
Furthermore, Perry also called on the Department of Justice to investigate Georgia following the state’s new voter-ID laws. The television magnate, who owns a studio in Atlanta, claimed that the new legislations are similar to those amid the Jim Crow era. In a statement, he said:
“As a Georgia resident and business owner I’ve been here a few times with the anti-abortion bill and the LGBTQ discrimination bill. They all sent a shockwave through Georgia and the nation but none of them managed to succeed.
I’m resting my hope in the DOJ taking a hard look at this unconstitutional voter suppression law that harkens to the Jim Crow era. As some consider boycotting, please remember that we did turn Georgia blue and there is a gubernatorial race on the horizon — that’s the beauty of a democracy.”
