Rayshard Brooks: Tyler Perry to pay for funeral of black man shot by police in Atlanta

Actor and director has offered to help out Brooks’ family

Tyler Perry has offered to pay for the funeral of Rayshard Brooks, the black man who was shot dead by police in Atlanta.

Producer and Gone Girl actor Perry, the creator of popular US character Medea, is said to be covering the cost to help out Mr Brooks’s family.

A lawyer working for the family announced the news during a press conference.

Police open fired on Mr Brooks, 27, after he fled from the scene of his arrest on 12 June, and numerous celebrities – including Jamie Foxx, Billie Eilish and Justin Timberlake – have spoken out against his death.

Mr Brooks had allegedly fallen asleep in his car in the drive-thru lane at a Wendy’s fast food restaurant. Police attempted to arrest him after he failed a sobriety test.

After he was shot three times, Mr Brooks was taken to a local hospital, where he died after surgery.

While Perry has not made a statement on his decision, he said the killing of George Floyd on 25 May, which caused Black Lives Matter protests to break out around the world, left him “with an extremely heavy heart”.

Perry said Floyd’s death caused him to have “very high level conversations with people who don’t look like me” and “people who may not believe what I believe”.

“I [had] conversations with people who don’t know what it’s like to be Black in America but were willing to listen White people who are Republicans and Democrats, with different opinions, different views, and different ideas and strategies on how to stop this,” he wrote.

“I must say that it’s a gift to be able to pick up the phone and actually talk to people who can help effect change,” Perry continued. ”There is power in talking to the other side.”

The Independent has contacted Perry for comment.