Tyler Perry and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) will be the recipients of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards at this year’s Oscars from the Academy’s Board of Governors.

Both Perry and the MPTF will be presented with their awards on Oscars night on April 25. The Governors Awards were canceled this year, so this is the first time since 2009, when that ceremony was established as a separate event, that honorary awards will be handed out on Oscar night.

It’s also a first for the Academy to give out two Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards, and the first time it has given one to an organization rather than an individual. The Board of Governors agreed that it would amend the rules for the Governor Awards for this year only such that the Governors could give out two prizes and to “not just to an individual, but also to a group of individuals or an organization in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

“There has been such widespread generosity in our industry that limiting the Hersholt Humanitarian Award to one recipient, this year in particular, was impossible. So, we are breaking with tradition and giving two awards to honor that spirit,” Academy president David Rubin said in a statement.

“Tyler’s cultural influence extends far beyond his work as a filmmaker. He has quietly and steadily focused on humanitarian and social justice causes from the beginning of his career, caring for people who are most often ignored. The work of the MPTF is more vital than ever, and the organization has gone above and beyond to help our community. The sheer number of individuals and families — from every corner of our industry’s workforce — aided during the pandemic and over the last 100 years is nothing short of extraordinary.”

Perry also received the Governors Award from the Television Academy last year, in large part due to his contributions amid the coronavirus pandemic in getting people back to work safely, bringing cast and crew of his series such as “Sistas,” “Bruh” and “The Oval” to his massive 330 acre Tyler Perry Studios lot in Georgia where they could quarantine.

(SD-Agencies)