Tyler Perry Pays Off More Than $400K In Layaway Items At 2 Georgia Walmarts & Fans Go Wild

Big hearted Tyler Perry made Christmas wishes come true for hundred of Atlanta residents. We’ve got details on how he played Santa and paid off $400K in layaway items at two Walmarts.

What’s the use in having over a half a billion dollars in net worth if you can’t do something good for those in need? Tyler Perry made sure customers at two Atlanta area Walmart stores are going to have their gifts paid for and under the tree by laying out $400,000 to cover remaining layaway costs of the items. The entertainment mogul made the announcement via Twitter that if people had purchases in layaway as of 9:30am on Dec. 6, he had paid them off in full! He tried to do it in secret, but in this day and age nothing ever stays completely hidden to he broke the big news in a Twitter video.

“I was trying to do this anonymously but due to some circumstance, you know nothing stays secret these days,” he opened the black and white video. He then went on to say if customers had layaways at store locations in the Atlanta suburbs of East Point and Douglasville and it was “already in there as of 9:30am this morning, I have paid for all of your layaways for Christmas.” He then had to pause to contain such a joyous smile as he was delivering the amazing news.

“So Merry Christmas to everybody. You’ve got to go in and get your layaway and pay a penny. One penny and you get your layaway. I know it’s hard times, everyone’s struggling and I’m just really, really grateful to be able to be in a position to do this,” he added, signing off “God bless you. Go get your stuff. Merry Christmas.”

The total bill was $432,635 and Walmart took to Twitter to thank the filmmaker, telling him “Anonymous or not, we hope you know that you just made Christmas for so many families. You went above and beyond.” Fans sang his praises under his tweet, telling him “Sir, You are a true southern gentleman and are a blessing to those families,” and “Madea literally saves Christmas,” referring to his iconic movie character.

One user named Rosa Bell-Wilson said her daughters both had layaways that had been paid off thanks to Tyler and that he saved Christmas for her grandchildren. “Thank you so much! Because both of my daughters have a Layaway, one at Cleveland Ave and the other one at Douglasville. They have not been able to work this week because they both have the Flu and the Kids too. They were worried about getting the kids Xmas Layaways out. My God!,” she tweeted in response to his video. Tyler’s kind act even inspired other’s to step up and help others in the same way. One user told him “You inspired me to do the same. I can’t pay for everyone but I’m going to get someone’s gift.”