Tyler Perry
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Tyler Perry indicated Monday night where his loyalties lie in the 2024 presidential election.
“Let me tell you what’s important to me, and I want you to hear me clearly when I say this,” Perry said The Hollywood Reporterwhen asked if he supported Biden’s re-election bid during the New York premiere Divorce in black on Monday night. “What I care about is that America remains a democracy that is free from anyone who tries to change that or try to have the power of a dictator or a king. So I support anyone who is against that.”
Perry endorsed Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in the 2020 election. Now, his less specific comments come as some in Hollywood have voiced opposition to the president’s bid for a second term. Influential entertainment industry figures including Reed Hastings, Abigail Disney, Rob Reiner and more have called for Biden to withdraw from the race (though Reiner appeared to retract those comments in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday). Many of those calling for Biden to withdraw have cited the president’s shaky performance at last month’s debate as cause for concern, and have argued that Biden is too old to seek re-elect.
Still, Perry’s comments echo Democratic talking points that Trump said he would be a dictator on day one and that democracy is at stake in this election. His comments also come after last week’s Supreme Court ruling that gave former presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts, a decision that Biden and other Democrats have criticized as empowering the commander in chief to break the law.
At the premiere, which took place at the Regal Times Square theater, Perry spoke about the lessons he learned from making a film that delves into divorce statistics.
“I don’t know if I learned as much as I wanted to teach,” the writer-director-producer said. “Letting things go and not trying to hold on to … loving someone in a place where they can’t go is so important.”
Divorce in blackstarring Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict, follows Good’s Ava, a young banking professional whose husband (Hardrict) leaves a marriage she’s determined to save, exposing his bad behavior that has destroyed their relationship and her ability to love. The film begins streaming Thursday on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Good, accompanied by his friend Jonathan Majors, and Hardrict were also in attendance at the premiere, along with co-stars Taylor Polidore, Richard Lawson, Debbi Morgan, Shannon Wallace and Joseph Lee Anderson.