The 'House of Payne' filmmaker has bought gift cards and asked police to hand them out to the people in need as he's trying to build bridges between cops and local residents.

• Jul 18, 2020

AceShowbiz - Tyler Perry is doing what he can to unite the residents of his local Atlanta, Georgia with cops in the city.

The 50-year-old media mogul bought 1,000 Kroger's supermarket gift cards and turned them over to Atlanta police to hand out to the community, with the star telling the New York Post, "This is about the community that I love, that I live and work in. This about good people who are in need of a hand up, not a hand out."

"This is about the good police officers who do their job well every day, some of which are my personal friends. This is about trying to bridge unity in a city that adopted me and held me up high enough to reach my own branch on the tree of success."

Photos supplied by Perry and posted on Twitter by Atlanta cops show officers distributing the $50 (£40) gift cards and donating groceries at a local community centre.

"500 food boxes were distributed to families in need this morning during the grocery giveaway event at the Dunbar Red Center," representatives for the department tweeted. "@tylerperry donated 1,000 Kroger gift cards to give out to the community. Thanks to all of those stopped by & to our partner agencies."

The move comes after the city has been rife with protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and opposing police brutality following the death of George Floyd at the hands of cops in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May (20).

Tensions increased after the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta cops outside a local Wendy's fast-food restaurant.

Within days of Brooks' shooting death, Perry announced that he would not only pay for his funeral but would supply college tuition for all four of the slain man's children when they come of age.