Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by Patrick Hipes and Jill Goldsmith on March 30, 2021.
Tyler Perry, who owns the massive Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta and is one of Georgia’s biggest employers of film and TV workers, is speaking out about the state’s recently passed, restrictive voter law, calling it “unconstitutional” and one that “harkens to the Jim Crow era.”
The new law, which Governor Brian Kemp signed last week, has tougher ID rules for absentee ballots, limits the use of drop boxes like those implemented used during the 2020 elections, and gives state election board officials the ability to override local boards. It also makes it a misdemeanor to offer food or water to voters waiting in line.
Voting rights organizations argue the law targets voters of color in the state, which was the epicenter of the November elections that saw it vote in two Democratic senators in contentious runoffs. Joe Biden also carried Georgia in the presidential election, the first time a Democrat had done that since 1992. …
