Keisha Lance Bottoms Adds Tyler Perry to Her Transition Team, and Social Media is Confused AF

After securing her historic win, Georgia governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms is announcing the members of her transition team to her constituents. But one choice has Black folks in and outside of the state running to social media in confusion: Tyler Perry.

Yes, you read that right. On Friday (Nov. 6), Bottoms announced at a news conference that the entertainment mogul would have a role on her team, describing him as a “huge philanthropic part of our Georgia community.” And she’s not wrong. Thanks to his famous 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios, which he built in 2015 in Atlanta, he’s helped bring in thousands of dollars into the state and given back through various charitable efforts.

But be that as it may, Perry’s involvement on Bottoms’ team didn’t land well with a lot of people online who wasted no time questioning why she’d want to align herself with him—especially considering the sexual assault lawsuit he has hovering over him and the fact that he has no expertise in politics. More than a handful of folks took to X/Twitter to express their disapproval and share a few jokes.

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“It don’t get no more Atlanta than Tyler Perry in politics,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.

Other users didn’t like the optics of a person with Perry’s money getting involved in politics at all.

“Tyler Perry is a billionaire…..The economy is not great at all, and you’re giving him another job with preferential treatment. The public does not want millionaires and billionaires making or guiding political decisions. READ THE ROOM,” said another.

One other user wrote: “Sigh…’Madea in office’ coming soon to a theater near you.”

Added another: “Making a call for this while his allegations are pending is a terrible look.”

However, others saw the benefit in having someone like Perry involved. One X user drew a parallel between the outrage against Perry and the silence of Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blake’s involvement.

“Okay, so I’m seeing people that are talking crazy about Tyler Perry being on the transition team for Keisha Lance Bottoms’ upcoming governor administration, and the BS is already starting,” they began in the post. “You don’t think that Tyler Perry, who has created thousands of jobs in Georgia and built a prominent business and Black-owned studio in Georgia, shouldn’t be a part of the conversation and the transition of Keisha to be governor (as an entrepreneur and someone that is the leader of Black Hollywood that is Atlanta)?”

They continued: “I need y’all to think. Mind you, no one says anything about Arthur Blank, who is a philanthropist and the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, but Tyler Perry is where y’all draw the line.”

“The film industry was moving away from Georgia as a production hub, and Tyler Perry Studios generates multi-million-dollar revenue for the state yearly. Why are we confused?” one other person noted.

One person thought it best to differentiate between a position on the governor’s cabinet and their transition team.

“Because I know what words mean: A transition team is a temporary group of advisors, campaign staff, policy experts, and volunteers assembled by an incoming leader (such as a newly elected president, governor, or mayor) to prepare for taking office,” they wrote in a series of X/Twitter posts. “So no Tyler Perry is not going to have a role in that lady cabinet. Tons of studios pulled out of making film and TV in Georgia because it became too expensive to provide healthcare for their crews here. Remedying that is a huge part of Keisha’s platform. So it stands to reason she would put a major player in Film & TV prod. on her team.””