Tyler Perry’s efforts to help TSA workers have been rebuffed.
Atlanta local outlet 11Alive reported that the billionaire mogul, a resident of the city and owner of Tyler Perry Studios, was seen arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport with cash to distribute to its TSA workers on Thursday. According to the outlet’s sources, the cash amounts Perry was ready to hand out were “significant.”
However, due to federal regulations prohibiting the acceptance of gifts while on duty, the TSA workers were not allowed to accept the cash. The outlet reported that Perry instead used the visit to chat with and thank the workers, which still provided a much-needed morale boost.
Airports across the country have been hit hard by long security lines, with some travelers reporting that they arrived five hours early for their flights and still missed their plane. Footage of far-stretching lines has flooded social media as TSA workers nationwide call out or quit amid pay pauses. Workers who have shown up to work have done so without pay, after Congress refused to pass DHS funding before the deadline.
Senate Democrats opposed full funding of the Department without reforms to ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, following the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns and ICE deployments—particularly after ICE shot two U.S. citizens to death in Minneapolis this year.
On Monday, Donald Trump added fuel to the fury over the national airport madness by sending ICE agents to 14 airports across the country without instructions for how they would “help” the overwhelmed workers.
The Senate passed a funding bill that excluded funding for ICE and CBP, thereby advancing funding for the TSA. But workers are still waiting on their back pay after House Republicans rejected the deal.
Perry’s cash may have provided some respite for the unpaid workers if they’d been allowed to accept it. The Associated Press reported that donations could be made to the TSA’s union, which could then distribute the funds.
The Denver International Airport had a different idea this month, as officials requested donations of $10 and $20 grocery store and gas cards to help support the agents, to be collected in secure lock boxes and collection bins set up around the airport.
Perry has become known for his random acts of public generosity. In 2020, the actor-writer-producer paid for groceries for seniors at 70 stores in Atlanta and New Orleans. In 2025, the billionaire donated $1.5 million to help families whose SNAP benefits were affected by the shutdown.
