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Tyler Perry's 'I refuse to HATE' cops comment during Oscars speech slammed: 'He just had to lick some boots'

While people praised his Oscars speech, there was an ominous silence when Perry mentioned the police. The rapturous applause faded away and gave way to a deadly silence.

Tyler Perry was hailed by many people for his acceptance speech at the Oscars on Monday, April 26. Calling on Americans to "stand in the middle" and reject hate, Perry became something of a hero to millions of Americans at the event. However, he also earned a lot of backlash for lending support to the cops.

After accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Perry had strong words for the audience and was met with applause through most of it. "I refuse to hate someone because they're Mexican or because they are black or white, or LGBTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they're a police officer or because they're Asian. I would hope we would refuse hate," he said. 

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While people praised his speech, there was an ominous silence when Perry mentioned the police. The rapturous applause faded away and gave way to a deadly silence. That didn't seem to affect Perry, who continued on with his speech. That begs the question - what is Perry's stance on police reform? Does he truly support the police? 

Where does Perry stand on police reform?

As a Black American and liberal, one would expect Perry to support police reform. Since the brutal murder of George Floyd, there have been many calls to 'defund the police' led by the Black Lives Matter movement. However, Perry has in the past, struck a completely different tone. In July 2020, Perry appeared on CNN’s 'Anderson Cooper 360' and strongly opposed such calls.

"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?" He then added, "Well, when I first heard it (defund the police), I was troubled by it" He called on people to "do more research".

"I’m not for taking money from the police department. I think we need more police. My studio is in a neighborhood where I think we need police. But we don’t need police that are under-trained." The full segment is about 10 minutes long, and can be seen in this video posted by CNN on Twitter-

From the interview, it is clear Perry approaches the problem in a different way. Unlike many African Americans, he believes police reform is about more than just defunding police departments. The CNN interview isn't the only time Perry has spoken up about the police. In July 2020, he donated $50,000 worth of Kroger gift cards to the Atlanta Police Department to distribute to the community. Perry also penned an essay for People Magazine in June 2020, speaking about police reform. 

Looking at his past, we can conclude Perry has a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between police and society than most. His speech at the Oscars was simply an extension of that, by acknowledging that the police do have a role to play in our communities. However, not everyone seems to be pleased with that outlook.

Piers Morgan supports Tyler Perry but Twitter does not

As with most things, Twitter was extremely divided over the mention of police. Perry found support, ironically, from conservatives like Piers Morgan, who tweeted, "This was a rare highlight of an otherwise terrible Oscars - @tylerperry knew the police reference would offend the woke brigade but said it anyway. He’s a courageous & admirable man. America needs more voices like his to speak out."

However, there were also plenty of users who disagreed with him. One person tweeted, "Unlike tyler perry I am very much willing to hate someone for being a police officer."

Another person said, "Tyler Perry slipped being a police officer in there with race, gender, and sexuality. At this time. Truly a diasporic embarrassment and disrespectful to the movement in this country, but also telling you clearly where he aligns." One person tweeted, "“I refuse to hate someone because they’re a police officer” somebody snatch that Oscar back from Tyler Perry"

"You know. if Tyler Perry had simply shut up and not mentioned the police officer bit, it could have been an okay speech but nooo he just had to lick some boots," another person tweeted. One more said, "White supremacy is oppression and police is its tool. So I’m going to continue hating these things. Thanks but no thanks Tyler Perry."

One person said, "I was with Tyler Perry on that speech until he mentioned not hating the police." Another joked, "Don’t worry Tyler Perry I’ll hate police enough for the both of us"

Clearly, not everyone is happy with Perry's views and it is likely to be a hotly debated topic in the many days to come. Nonetheless, Perry has managed to capture the imagination of many with his beautiful words.