The 93rd Academy Awards have not yet kicked off, but one award has already been handed out. Tyler Perry has received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Joining Perry, the Motion Picture & Television Fund will also receive the award. The annual award is bestowed upon an “individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” Past award recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.
“There has been such widespread generosity in our industry that limiting the Hersholt Humanitarian Award to one recipient, this year in particular, was impossible,” Academy President David Rubin told Variety.
Perry has worked throughout the pandemic to help out marginalized communities. He partnered with Grady Hospital to transform Tyler Perry Studios into a mass vaccination site. More recently, he distributed nearly 5,000 meals during the Thanksgiving holiday break.
In past years, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award has been presented during the Governors’ Awards. However, the award presentation has been shifted to the main awards ceremony.
Tyler Perry will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award during Sunday’s #Oscars In the past year, Perry has given away thousands of free groceries and Thanksgiving meals, turned his production studio into a vaccination site and employed hundreds of crew members. (?:Getty) pic.twitter.com/JPQMEQWCqF
— etalk (@etalkCTV) April 22, 2021
