Tyler Perry slams demand to defund cops, says Floyd death protest is being hijacked: 'We sure need more police'
Movie mogul and actor Tyler Perry, on Wednesday, July 30, expressed concerns over the ongoing protests asking to defund the police across the country, saying he was "worried" the message was "being hijacked". Perry made the statement while appearing on CNN’s 'Anderson Cooper 360' and referred to the current anti-racism protests triggered after George Floyd's death in police custody in Minneapolis in May.
Perry said: "So when they saw George Floyd’s death, this horrific, horrible death played out as this man pleaded for his life and begged and 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 as police reform, right?” Perry continued. "So, yeah, I was, but I’m worried now because of what I’m seeing.”
The actor also spoke about him recently paying for supermarket gift cards for Atlanta Police to hand out at a Kroger grocery store shortly after Rayshard Brooks' death. Brooks was shot dead by a police officer on June 12 in the parking lot of Wendy's in University Avenue, Atlanta, shortly after he failed a sobriety test. When Perry was questioned by Cooper about the discourse surrounding defunding of police across the country, the actor insisted that he believes police are a necessity in the society.
"When I first heard it, I was troubled by it, and I thought OK, this is — this is going to be weaponized by — in this political year. I completely thought that that was happening. That’s exactly what’s happened. It’s been weaponized. But I did some research. And what I would challenge people to do is do research and find out what it means. Now, you’ve got to understand this — 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," he said.
The actor, however, explained his stance saying that "we don't need police that are undertrained." He added that he has close friends who are police officers and are good people. Perry said that his cop friends have been "very, very" hurt by the ongoing demands for defunding the police and that he will always stand up against whatever he deems wrong.
"Here’s what I want you to understand, Anderson, wrong — where there is wrong, I’m going to stand up against it. When Rayshard Brooks was murdered, I thought that was wrong. When George — George Floyd was murdered, I thought that was wrong, like so many other people," he said. "But when a police officer who was White in a suburb in Atlanta was shot in the head by a shoplifter, I thought that was wrong, too, and I reached out to do what I can to help his family."
"When Secoriea was — an eight-year-old was shot near the Wendy’s in her mother’s backseat, I thought that was wrong, too. So, anywhere there is wrong, I’m going to stand up against it. I just don’t believe that, and I believe in most — I don’t believe that there are lots of people — let me just change that to understand that there are a lot of people in America who feel the way that I do, right? I think we need the police. I know that I need the police. I have several cops that work for me here at the studio. We need them, but we need them reformed. We need them trained well. We need the right structure, right? But some of the things inside of defund the police, I really understand 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 troubles me," the actor added.