At least one billionaire is finding it hard to ignore the SNAP benefits crisis impacting nearly 42 million Americans, almost 40 percent of them children.
During his intro to his latest film from Amazon MGM Studios, Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy, the self-made mogul, who himself experienced a lean childhood, broke out of salesman mode at an early screening at Regal Atlantic Station in Atlanta on Sunday night.
The film Perry was promoting follows an aspiring New York-based fashion designer named Joy who is toiling away in the shadow of an unscrupulous boss whose creative well has dried up. Her love life, like her work life, according to her most outspoken friend, Littia (singer Inayah), is in shambles, and an invitation to spend the holidays with love interest Colton (Aaron O’Connell) challenges her perspectives on romance.
Perry officially kicked off the screening by praising his star Shannon Thornton, best known for her role as Miss Mississippi on Katori Hall’s hit Starz show P-Valley. “When I was writing this movie, I thought, ‘Who do I want to get to play this role?,’ and I immediately thought about her,” he recalled. “She’s incredible,” he said directly to Thornton, who expressed her appreciation of that life-changing call from “Mr. Perry”: “To give me a chance, to give me a shot — this is my first time starring in a film,” she said, as the crowd erupted into applause. “I come from the TV world, so this is so exciting for me.”
Perry also invited onstage Brittany S. Hall, who plays Ashley, and Amber Rasberry, the Amazon MGM exec with whom he’s worked for more than 20 years, and asked his Tyler Perry Studios crew to stand. While expressing his gratitude for their work — and encouraging those in attendance to spread the word of the movie’s Nov. 5 global premiere date on Prime Video — Perry broke slightly from the script.
“I know we’re about to watch a fun movie. I just want to shift gears for just a minute,” he said. “I’m very, very concerned about this SNAP benefits for so many people who need them. And I just want you to know if you know somebody who is on SNAP, what I’m hearing is that if you have money left on your SNAP, WIC card or however that works, if you do not spend it by the fifth, it could be gone.” (The New York Times recently reported that millions of Americans will see massive cuts and delays to food stamps despite the White House choosing to pay partial benefits.)
As Perry continued, he became more somber. “I just feel sad that there are so many people, children and elderly people who are not getting these benefits when they need to. … Please, please just, just try and help whoever you can because I’m doing a lot to see what I can do. Now I’m going to switch gears back to Finding Joy.”
Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy is currently streaming globally on Prime Video.
