Tyler Perry stepped in to play Santa at two Atlanta Walmarts on Thursday. The director and actor strolled into the stores and dropped $432,635 to pay off the holiday layaway tabs of all the store’s customers.
Perry, who has deep ties to the Atlanta community and built his own studio facilities there, stated that he intended to privately make the donation without receiving public praise for it, but he had failed at being able to keep it to himself.
In a video he posted to social media accounts, Perry said that his generosity was outed “due to some circumstances.”
“You know nothing stays secret these days,” he added, noting the two stores where patrons could arrive to find their bills already paid. “God Bless, go get your stuff, Merry Christmas.”
“I know it’s a hard time, a lot of people are struggling and I’m just really, really grateful to be able to be in a position to do this,” Perry continued.
Walmart responded by thanking him for his display of kindness.
“Anonymous or not, we hope you know that you just made Christmas for so many families. You went above and beyond,” they tweeted.
Tis the season to save some coins!